Common fears and their relationship to anxiety disorders symptomatology in normal children

The current study examined the relationship between the revised Fear Survey Schedule for Children (FSSC-R) and anxiety disorders symptomatology in normal children. First, professionals were asked to relate the 10 most common FSSC-R items to separate childhood anxiety disorders. Then, primary school children (N = 178) completed a short version of the FSSC-R and the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED). The SCARED is a questionnaire that consists of 9 subscales each measuring the symptoms of a separate, DSM-IV defined anxiety disorder in children (e.g. separation anxiety disorder, panic disorder, etc.). Professionalsʹ anxiety disorder classification of the FSSC-R items were validated against SCARED data. Results revealed that professionals related most FSSC-R items to specific phobia and generalized anxiety disorder. These relationships were supported by the SCARED data. However, FSSC-R items were also found to be connected to less obvious SCARED subscales. Thus, FSSC-R items do not point in the direction of one particular anxiety disorder. The implications of this finding for the use of the FSSC-R are briefly discussed.