Common fears in children and adolescents: Their relationship to anxiety sensitivity, trait anxiety, negative affectivity, and depression

Abstract

In the present study, we examined the relations of common fears to anxiety sensitivity, trait anxiety, negative affectivity, and depression in a sample of nonclinical children and adolescents. A large sample of children and adolescents (N = 1080) completed the Spanish versions of the Childhood Anxiety Sensitivity Index (CASI; Silverman, Fleisig, Rabian & Peterson, 1991), the Fear Survey Schedule for Children-Revised (FSSC-R; Ollendick, 1983), the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAIC, Spielberger, 1970), and a measure of depression (Sandín & Valiente, 1996). Overall, results showed: (1) moderate correlations between fear and anxiety sensitivity, trait anxiety, and negative affectivity; (2) modest correlations between fear and depression; and (3) fear correlated significantly higher with anxiety sensitivity than with the remaining measures. Findings support the hypothesis that anxiety sensitivity could be viewed as a variable of vulnerability to fear, more specific than trait anxiety or negative affectivity. Results were also discussed in terms of the uniqueness of the constructs of fear, anxiety sensitivity, anxiety and depression, as well as, in relation with the more global construct of negative affectivity.