Cognitive coping and childhood anxiety disorders

Jeroen S. Legerstee (1) , Nadia Garnefski (2) , Francine C. Jellesma (3) , Frank C. Verhulst (1) , Elisabeth M. W. J. Utens (1)

1 Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
2 Department of Clinical and Health Psychology
3 Department of Educational Sciences

To investigate differences in cognitive coping strategies between anxiety-disordered and non-anxious 9–11-year-old children. Additionally, differences in cognitive coping between specific anxiety disorders were examined. A clinical sample of 131 anxiety-disordered children and a general population sample of 452 non-anxious children were gathered. All children filled out the child version of the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ-k). Structured clinical interviews were used to assess childhood anxiety disorders. Results showed that anxiety-disordered children experience significantly more ‘lifetime' negative life events than non-anxious children. Adjusted for the ‘lifetime' experience of negative life events, anxiety-disordered children scored significantly higher on the strategies catastrophizing and rumination, and significantly lower on the strategies positive reappraisal and refocus on planning than non-anxious children. No significant differences in cognitive coping were found between children with specific anxiety disorders. Anxiety-disordered children employ significantly more maladaptive and less adaptive cognitive coping strategies in response to negative life events than non-anxious children. The results suggest that cognitive coping is a valuable target for prevention and treatment of childhood anxiety problems.

Mots clés: Anxiety disorders; Cognitive coping; Cognitive emotion regulation; Children; Life events

Jeroen S. Legerstee, Nadia Garnefski, Francine C. Jellesma, Frank C. Verhulst, Elisabeth M. W. J. Utens. Cognitive coping and childhood anxiety disorders. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2009, 19 (2), pp.143-150. ⟨10.1007/s00787-009-0051-6⟩. ⟨hal-00535169⟩