Background

Anxiety impairs adolescent development and is a risk factor for psychopathology. However, factors related to anxiety impairment’s severity remain poorly studied.

Objective

This study aims to document anxiety impairment across different domains in adolescents and to study associated factors (sociodemographic, specific anxiety, and depressive symptoms, psychological vulnerabilities).

Methods

Adolescents aged 11 to 17 (N = 4616) participated in this cross-sectional correlational study. They were recruited from several schools in Canada and answered questionnaires.

Results

Anxiety impairment was higher in the school domain, compared to the social and family domains. Respectively, 9.64%, 5.23% and 2.02% of adolescents reported experiencing moderate or high impairment in these domains. Controlling for symptom severity, anxiety impairment seemed higher in females, adolescents from regular programs and those starting high school. All types of symptoms predicted school impairment, except the obsessive–compulsive (OC) ones. Symptoms of panic, generalized anxiety, post-traumatic stress (PTS), as well as depressive symptoms were moderately related to impairment, while the other symptoms were weakly related. Only OC and PTS symptoms did not predict impairment in the social domain, and only PTS, separation anxiety and depressive symptoms predicted impairment in the family domain. Perfectionism, intolerance of uncertainty and negative problem orientation predicted impairment levels after controlling for symptom severity.

Conclusions

This study notes relatively high rates of anxiety impairment in high school and suggests more school impairment. It offers possible explanatory factors that could be useful to establish more detailed models and interventions.

中文翻译：

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与青少年焦虑障碍相关的症状和心理因素

背景

焦虑会损害青少年的发展，是精神病理学的危险因素。然而，与焦虑障碍严重程度相关的因素仍然缺乏研究。

客观的

本研究旨在记录青少年不同领域的焦虑障碍，并研究相关因素（社会人口统计学、特定焦虑和抑郁症状、心理脆弱性）。

方法

11 至 17 岁青少年 ( N  = 4616) 参与了这项横断面相关研究。他们是从加拿大的几所学校招募的，并回答了调查问卷。

结果

与社会和家庭领域相比，学校领域的焦虑障碍更高。分别有 9.64%、5.23% 和 2.02% 的青少年表示在这些领域存在中度或高度障碍。控制症状严重程度后，女性、常规项目青少年和刚上高中的青少年的焦虑障碍似乎更高。除强迫症（OC）外，所有类型的症状都预示着学校障碍。恐慌、广泛性焦虑、创伤后应激障碍（PTS）以及抑郁症状与损伤呈中度相关，而其他症状则与损伤相关性较弱。只有 OC 和 PTS 症状不能预测社交领域的损害，只有 PTS、分离焦虑和抑郁症状可以预测家庭领域的损害。控制症状严重程度后，完美主义、对不确定性的不容忍和消极的问题导向可预测损伤程度。

结论

这项研究指出，高中阶段的焦虑障碍发生率相对较高，并表明学校障碍较多。它提供了可能的解释因素，有助于建立更详细的模型和干预措施。