ETHNICITY AND GENDER IN RELATION TO ADAPTIVE FUNCTIONING, DIAGNOSTIC STATUS, AND TREATMENT OUTCOME IN CHILDREN FROM AN ANXIETY CLINIC

Research documenting prevalence of nonclinical fears and anxiety in children has consistently reported gender differences: girls generally report a greater number of fears than boys. Little research has examined the fears and anxieties of minority group children, although some suggest that Caucasian children experience fewer fears than African American children. The present study explored gender and ethnic differences in the experience of clinical levels of anxious symptomatology in 178 children ages 9-13 referred to an anxiety disorders clinic. Treatment sensitivity across gender and ethnicity was studied in 81 children who were diagnosed with a DSM-III-R childhood anxiety disorder. Results indicated that in clinically anxious youth, prevalence and intensity of fears, as rated by the child, parent, teacher, and clinical diagnostician, did not differ as a function of gender or ethnicity. Content of these fears was highly similar for both genders and ethnicities. A cognitive-behavioral treatment intervention for anxiety-disorders produced similar reductions in anxious symptomatology and presence of an anxiety disorder diagnosis across ethnicity and gender. Results are discussed in the context of similarities across gender and ethnicity for clinical levels of anxiety and treatment sensitivity.