A Model-Based Cluster Analysis of Social Experiences in Clinically Anxious Youth: Links to Emotional Functioning

Sixty-four children with a primary diagnosis of separation anxiety disorder, social phobia, and/or generalized anxiety disorder and their parents and teachers participated in a study to examine patterns of social experiences in clinically anxious children. Three patterns of social experience were found in these children: average (no impairment in social functioning), unaware (high parent/teacher reports of social problems but average scores on child self-report measures), and victimized and lonely (children reporting overt loneliness and feeling victimized).