ABSTRACT

In the past years, our knowledge of factors that are involved in the etiology of childhood anxiety has increased considerably. Despite of this aspect, we have little information about the interactions between these various risk factors. Therefore, the aim of the present article is to explore the interconnections between different risk factors for childhood anxiety disorders. We focus on two risk factors that are thought to play a role in the development and maintenance of childhood anxiety disorders: temperamental traits and cognitive factors, such as attentional biases to threat. The review begins by summarizing various temperamental traits that have been associated with the development of anxiety disorders, emphasizing similarities and differences between different concepts that have been related to temperament. Further, we analyze the ways in which children with certain temperamental characteristics may be vulnerable to bias their attention toward threat information. Finally, we investigated how the joint contribution of these temperamental and cognitive variables could offer us a better understanding of the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders.

KEYWORDS: temperamental traits, negative affect, trait anxiety, attention to threat, childhood anxiety.

PAGES: 299-311