Predictors of specific phobia in children with Williams syndrome.
C H Pitts, B P Klein-Tasman, J W Osborne and 1 others
PMID 27545817WHAT IT FOUND
Greater behaviour regulation difficulties were most strongly linked to specific phobia in 194 children with Williams syndrome.
Younger age and lower IQ were also linked. This is an association, not evidence of cause.
Key findings
01Specific phobia was diagnosed in 108 of the 194 children, including 49 of 94 boys and 59 of 100 girls.
02Age and IQ were associated with diagnosis. A child aged 7 had a 68% chance of diagnosis, while a child aged 14 had a 51% chance after controlling for gender. A child with IQ 52 had an 83% chance, while a child with IQ 96 had a 53% chance after controlling for behaviour regulation, age and gender.
03Behaviour regulation difficulties were the strongest predictor. A child with a Behavioural Regulation Index T-score of 50 had a 37% chance of diagnosis, while a child with a T-score of 63 had a 70% chance and a child with a T-score of 77 also had a 70% chance after controlling for gender, age and IQ.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The study measured everything at one time point, so it cannot show whether behaviour regulation difficulties came before specific phobia. Five influential cases were removed before the final analysis. Children with another anxiety diagnosis were excluded, so the results do not cover children with more complex anxiety profiles. The sample was community-based and partly recruited for other studies, which may affect how representative it is. The authors state the sample was still relatively small for detecting nonlinear effects and interactions. The findings are about children with Williams syndrome and cannot be assumed to apply to other syndromes without direct comparison.
Declared interests
No author conflict-of-interest statement is provided in the supplied text. The publication types list NIH extramural and non-U.S. government research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that poor behaviour regulation causes specific phobia, or that treating it will prevent phobia. This was a cross-sectional diagnostic association study, not a treatment trial.