A PRELIMINARY STUDY OF BIOLOGICAL ATTRIBUTED RISK FACTOR FOR ANXIETY AMONG ANXIOUS CHILDREN

Anxiety disorders are chronic, disabling conditions that are distributed across the globe. Woefully, the consistent increase of prevalence rate had affected people across nations range from children to adults. Biological attributed risk factors had associated strongly with the early onset of anxiety during the childhood stage. This current research intended to study the biological risk factors of brain electrical activity, hereditary and gender effect on trait anxiety among anxious children. A total of 36 children, aged ranged from 8 to 13 years old with high trait anxiety level were recruited by using a purposive sampling method. Self- administered STAIC-T and STAIT were used to measure the trait anxiety level of children and parents respectively. Besides, neuroimaging of Quantitative Electroencephalogram (qEEG) brain mapping was administered to study the brain electrical activity and associated brain locations. Pearson’s Correlation was carried out in order to study the relationship between biological risk factors with trait anxiety level. Results showed that there is a significant relationship between parents’ trait anxiety score and children’s trait anxiety score. Preliminary findings indicated that the brain locations of Fp1, F4, F8, T3, and T4 showed a significant relationship with trait anxiety. In conclusion, hereditary and associated brain locations played a role in affecting the trait anxiety level of children and results in the biological vulnerability of anxiety since birth.

Effects of Natural Stress Relief Meditation on Trait Anxiety: A Pilot Study

Natural Stress Relief meditation, a mental technique which is practiced for 15 minutes twice a day, aims to reduce stress and anxiety by eliciting a specific state of physiological rest along with mental alertness. The meditation is taught in a self-administered program, requiring one hour of training during the first three days, followed by the regular twice daily practice. Each 15-min. session consists in sitting quietly with closed eyes while applying a specific mental procedure. To test the effectiveness of meditation in reducing trait anxiety, Spielberger's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory was administered to 25 participants four times over a 3-wk. period: one week before starting to practice the meditation, a few hours before starting, 1 wk. after, and 2 wk. after. The difference in Trait Anxiety score between pretreatment and before starting the practice was not significant, while it was significant both after the first week of practice (Cohen d= .46) and after the first 2 wk. of practice ( d= .67).

Scores of Brazilian University Students on the Beck Depression and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventories

The profiles of the Beck Depression Inventory and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory scores were obtained for a sample of Brazilian university students and compared with those of other studies. Subjects were 270 students from various universities in São Paulo, age 23.8 yr. (SD = 6.7 yr.). The mean Beck score for the total sample was 8.5 (SD = 7.0); according to the cut-off score of 16, 86 9% were considered normal, 7.5% had scores compatible with dysphoria, and 56% had scores indicative of depression. The mean State-Trait Anxiety score for the total sample was 40.7 (SD = 8.6). Considering one standard deviation as the threshold point, 17.8% could be considered low and 15.2% high on trait anxiety. Comparing our means with published data indicated that the Portuguese versions of the questionnaires are equivalent to original versions.