Objective
Anxiety may interfere with school‐age children's independent behaviour and hence, their daily living skills (DLS). Nonetheless, this has not been tested in previous studies of children with clinical anxiety.
Method
This study compared two groups of age‐, gender‐, and ethnicity‐matched children with and without anxiety disorders (N = 60), testing the association of anxiety disorders with a lack of independence in DLS.
Results
Anxiety disorders are significantly associated with less mastery of DLS. Age moderated this effect for children with anxiety disorders; older children were more negatively impacted by anxiety disorders than younger children.
Conclusions
Anxiety disorders may negatively impact children's independence in DLS. As children transition from mid‐ to late childhood – a period normally marked by increasing independence – this effect may grow in magnitude.
Practitioner Points
- A relation exists between the presence of anxiety disorders and reduced independence in daily living skills (DLS).
- Older school‐age children with an anxiety disorder experienced particularly pronounced DLS deficits when compared with matched peers without an anxiety disorder. Early detection and intervention of anxiety may be the key to preventing negative impact in DLS.
- Parents provided information about DLS, which is a limitation of the current study. Involving multiple informants or observational methods may provide a broader assessment of children's DLS.
- Due to the cross‐sectional design of the study, causation should not be inferred.