THE FEASIBILITY AND VALIDITY OF A DAILY DIARY FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF ANXIETY IN CHILDREN

The use of a daily diary to assess the range and frequency of anxious events in young children was examined. The results indicated that although further modifications in procedure may be necessary to address the child's maturational age, self-monitoring is a feasible assessment strategy for use with anxious children. Furthermore, the findings that anxious children report significantly more emotional distress and more negative behaviors such as crying, somatic complaints or behavioral avoidance provide some initial validity for the use of this assessment format. The results are discussed in terms of the utility and validity of a diary format and its ability to enhance our clinical understanding of childhood anxiety disorders. © 1991 Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy.