An Ounce of Prevention: Building resilience and targeting anxiety in young children

Abstract

Background Anxiety disorders are among the most common psychiatric disorders in childhood and can develop as early as the preschool years. Therefore, providing young children who display early signs of anxiety with skills to prevent the development of later psychopathology is invaluable. The current study evaluates the effectiveness of Fun FRIENDS, an anxiety prevention and resilience program for young children. Method Fifty-seven kindergartners across three classrooms participated in a 15-week anxiety prevention program and teachers completed a behavioral screening measure and anxiety questionnaire at pre, post, 3 month, and 10-month follow-up assessment points. Results Anxiety positively correlated with emotional symptoms , peer difficulties, and total difficulties at pre-intervention. Anxiety symptoms decreased from pre-intervention to follow-up. Additionally, prosocial behaviors improved and moderated the relationship between pre-and post-intervention anxiety symptoms. Conclusions These findings yield promising implications regarding the effectiveness of prevention and intervention programs on increasing social emotional skills and reducing anxiety symptoms in young children.