This special issue is the culmination of an ESRC seminar series grant awarded to the authors of this editorial. We named the seminar series CATTS (Child Anxiety, Theory and Treatment Seminars) and it took the form of six highly stimulating, one-day seminars on the subject of child anxiety, with participants from clinical and academic backgrounds and from Great Britain, Europe, the USA and Australia. Most of the authors in this publication, and a sister special issue in Cognitions and Emotion (2008), participated in the CATTS series.

Social phobia (SP) is characterized by a fear of one or more social or performance situations. Studies of comorbidity in SP youth find anxiety and affective disorders co-occurring. The present study examined children with primary SP and compared them to children with primary Separation Anxiety Disorder (SAD) or Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) prior to treatment and in response to treatment. The groups differed significantly on self-, parent- and teacher-rated pretreatment measures. Additionally, the two groups showed differential treatment outcomes. When the SP youth with comorbid Affective Disorder were excluded in treatment outcome analyses, there were non significant differences, indicating that comorbid affective disorders likely contributed to differential treatment outcome. Results are discussed in terms of treatment recommendations for socially phobic youth.

The present study investigated the relations between youth anxiety sensitivity and perceived anxiety control over Internal Reactions and perceived anxiety control over External Threats within the context of a (partially) mediated model in the prediction of anxiety symptoms. Youth sex also was investigated as a moderator of the conceptual model. The sample consisted of 333 children and adolescents (51.4% boys; M = 10.27 years old) referred to a youth anxiety disorders specialty research clinic. Findings showed that high anxiety sensitivity predicted high levels of anxiety symptoms for both boys and girls. Findings also showed that for both boys and girls, high anxiety sensitivity predicted low perceived anxiety control over Internal Reactions, as well as low perceived anxiety control over External Threats. Interestingly, perceived anxiety control over Internal Reactions was a partial mediator of the relation between anxiety sensitivity and anxiety for boys, but not girls. In contrast, perceived anxiety control over External Threats was a partial mediator of the relation between anxiety sensitivity and anxiety for girls, but not boys. The results are discussed within the context of the study's conceptual model as well as potential clinical implications.

Because anxiety and other concurrent psychological problems are common among children with high-functioning autism and Asperger syndrome, research initiatives have been devoted to the development of efficacious treatments to address the multifaceted needs of youth with this presentation. Emerging research indicates that when carefully adapted to accommodate for the unique needs of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) may be a viable treatment modality. Because inherent features of ASD may compromise the efficacy of traditional CBT, our preliminary work suggests that it may be important to gear intervention efforts towards directly addressing core autism symptoms to promote optimal treatment response. This article describes an evidence-based CBT treatment manual modified and expanded to address core ASD features above and beyond anxiety symptomatology. A case example of a 10-year-old boy with Asperger syndrome is presented with supporting data to illustrate the treatment modifications and their rationale. The positive treatment response attained in this case suggests that an enhanced variant of a standard CBT programme may be an efficacious treatment approach for children with ASD and concurrent anxiety.

This paper describes the rationale for and development of an online cognitive-behavioural treatment for child and adolescent anxiety (BRAVE–ONLINE). It highlights the challenges involved in adapting a clinic-based intervention for delivery using the internet, with separate sessions for parents and their children (or adolescents). We outline strategies to ensure that young people remain engaged in online therapy, and describe techniques designed to optimize the alliance between clients and the online therapist. Two case studies are presented that illustrate the practical and technical aspects of implementing the intervention, and demonstrate the feasibility of achieving successful outcomes using online delivery of CBT for child and adolescent anxiety. However, firm conclusions regarding the efficacy of this approach cannot be drawn until the results of randomized controlled trials are available. The paper identifies directions for future research.

Each year a large number of children and adolescents develop significant posttraumatic symptoms after being involved in road traffic accidents (RTA). Consequently there is a need to develop effective interventions to prevent or minimize such reactions. The use of symptom monitoring with adults has found promising results. This pilot study explores the use of symptom monitoring with children and young people involved in RTAs. Twelve young people who met criteria on screening questionnaires for significant posttraumatic symptoms completed symptom monitoring diaries. Following completion of a diary once a day for 3 weeks, 3/12 children (25%) fell below criteria, suggesting significant posttraumatic symptoms. Feedback about self-monitoring was generally positive and suggests that symptom monitoring may be a helpful yet simple intervention for use with child trauma victims.

There has been some support for the applicability of the Clark and Wells’ model of Social Phobia within an adolescent population. To date, however, there is limited research to support the existence of the main perpetuating element (i.e. observer perspective) in this population. One hundred and twenty-four adolescents (12–18 years) completed an anxiety-provoking social task. They were asked to generate an image in their mind of what they felt they were like during this situation. The study investigated whether adolescents could report the perspective that they took in this task, and whether increased levels of social anxiety were associated with an “observer” perspective. The study also explored whether age moderated this relationship. It was found that as social anxiety increased, the perspective of the participants moved towards that of an observer. Age was not found to influence the reporting of perspective, nor the association between this and social anxiety. This study provides evidence for the existence of observer perspective within an adolescent population and indicates that this is associated with social anxiety. It provides some indirect support for the continued use of video feedback strategies with this age group.

Social phobia is a common and disabling condition for both children and adults. In recent years Clark and Wells' (1995) cognitive model of social phobia has given rise to an effective treatment protocol for the condition in adults (e.g. Clark et al., 2003, 2006). The current study investigates the applicability of this model to younger people. One hundred and seventy-one 11–14 year-old participants completed questionnaires measuring social anxiety, depression, and the variables hypothesized to maintain social phobia in Clark and Wells' (1995) cognitive model: negative social cognitions, safety behaviours, self-focused attention, and pre- and post-event processing. High socially anxious children scored significantly higher than low socially anxious children on all of the variables in Clark and Wells' model. Negative social cognitions, self-focused attention, safety behaviours, and pre- and post-event processing were all significant predictors of social anxiety, accounting for 48% of the variance in social anxiety. Furthermore, these variables showed specificity to social anxiety, predicting significantly more variance in social anxiety than in depression. Findings suggest that although Clark and Wells' (1995) model of social phobia was developed from research on adult populations, it may be equally applicable to younger people with social phobia.

Cognitive models of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) have been influential in understanding and treating the disorder in adults. Cognitive models may also be applicable to children and adolescents and would have important implications for treatment. The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate research that examined the applicability of the cognitive model of OCD to children and adolescents. Inclusion criteria were set broadly but most studies identified included data regarding responsibility appraisals, thought-action fusion or meta-cognitive models of OCD in children or adolescents. Eleven studies were identified in a systematic literature search. Seven studies were with non clinical samples, and 10 studies were cross-sectional. Only one study did not support cognitive models of OCD in children and adolescents and this was with a clinical sample and was the only experimental study. Overall, the results strongly supported the applicability of cognitive models of OCD to children and young people. There were, however, clear gaps in the literature. Future research should include experimental studies, clinical groups, and should test which of the different models provide more explanatory power.

Parenting styles are associated with anxiety in children. Part of this association can be explained by how parenting interacts with known pathways to anxiety. Although parenting interacts with the verbal threat information pathway to create anxiogenic cognitions in children, it is not known whether parenting styles mediate the physiological component of the anxiety emotion. An experiment is reported in which 6–10-year-old children (N = 54) completed parenting styles, and anxiety beliefs questionnaires. They were then given threat, positive or no verbal information about three novel animals before being asked to place their hands in boxes they believed these animals inhabited. Their average heart rate during the approach was recorded. The results suggest that a neglectful maternal parenting style mediates the effect that verbal threat information has on physiological responses. However, a punitive maternal parenting style, maternal warmth, overprotection, and accurate monitoring were not found to have a significant effect. Paternal parenting styles were not found to have any significant effect. This experiment adds to the existing evidence demonstrating that parenting practices can mediate components of acquired anxiety emotions.

Over-involved parenting is commonly hypothesized to be a risk factor for the development of anxiety disorders in childhood. This parenting style may result from parental attempts to prevent child distress based on expectations that the child will be unable to cope in a challenging situation. Naturalistic studies are limited in their ability to disentangle the overlapping contribution of child and parent factors in driving parental behaviours. To overcome this difficulty, an experimental study was conducted in which parental expectations of child distress were manipulated and the effects on parent behaviour and child mood were assessed. Fifty-two children (aged 7 – 11 years) and their primary caregiver participated. Parents were allocated to either a “positive” or a “negative” expectation group. Observations were made of the children and their parents interacting whilst completing a difficult anagram task. Parents given negative expectations of their child's response displayed higher levels of involvement. No differences were found on indices of child mood and behaviour and possible explanations for this are considered. The findings are consistent with suggestions that increased parental involvement may be a “natural” reaction to enhanced perceptions of child vulnerability and an attempt to avoid child distress.

Recent research has shown that the verbal information and vicarious learning pathways to fear create long term fear cognitions and can create cognitive biases and avoidance in children. However, it is unlikely that these pathways operate in isolation in the aetiology of childhood fear and the interaction between these pathways is untested. Three preliminary experiments are reported that explore the combined effect of verbal threat information and vicarious learning on self-reported fear beliefs in 7–9-year-old children. Results showed that prior negative information significantly facilitated the effect of negative vicarious learning on children's fear beliefs (Experiment 1); however, there was not a significant combined effect of verbal threat information and vicarious learning when they the information was presented during (Experiment 2) or after (Experiment 3) vicarious learning. These results support the idea that verbal information can affect CS-US associations formed in subsequent vicarious learning events, but contradict the proposal that it can change fear beliefs already acquired through vicarious learning by changing how a person evaluates the vicarious learning episode.