Q: What is school anxiety and how prevalent is it?
There is no formal disorder known as ``school anxiety disorder'' or ``school phobia.'' Rather, as many as 5 percent of school-age children exhibit severe anxiety relating to school, including refusal to attend school. (The prevalence of any anxiety disorder is about 10 percent among children and adolescents.) For many children, the reasons relate to different aspects of the school environment such as needing to separate from parents, encountering new classmates or teachers or perhaps more generalized worry. For example, with all the attention paid this summer to H1N1, I would not be surprised if we see more children showing anxiety about attending school due to worries about catching the flu.
Q: What are the symptoms of ``school anxiety''?
A: The most common signs will be outright refusal to go to school. This might mean the child screams, kicks, cries or refuses to get out of bed. They may also refuse to leave the house or leave the car upon arrival at school. Other signs can be more subtle. Children might begin complaining of headaches, stomach aches or other somatic [physical] problems the night before or the morning of school. It is not unusual for children to vomit the night before or the morning of school. Once in school, the child might be so disruptive or report such distressing problems that the parent may be forced to take the child home. A child also might begin expressing worrisome thoughts such as how much he is going to miss the parent, whether or not the teacher will like him, whether he will know anyone in his class or concern about the work being too difficult.
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