Disgust sensitivity, trait anxiety and anxiety disorders symptoms in normal children

There is evidence to suggest that disgust sensitivity plays a role in the d evelopment of small animal fears and phobias. Recently, Phillips, Senior, F ahy, and David (1998) [Phillips, M.L., Senior,C., Fahy, T., & David, A. S. (1998). Disgust: the forgotten emotion of psychiatry. British Journal of Ps ychiatry, 172, 373-375.] suggested that disgust sensitivity is also involve d in various other anxiety-based symptoms (e.g. obsessive-compulsive compla ints, social phobia). The present study sought to test this suggestion in a large sample of normal school children (N = 189). Children completed a mea sure of disgust sensitivity, the trait anxiety version of the Spielberger S tate-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children and the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders, an instrument that measures DSM- defined anxie ty disorders symptoms. Disgust sensitivity was indeed found to be correlate d with a broad range of anxiety disorders symptoms. However, results also i ndicated that these correlations were predominantly carried by trait anxiet y. That is, when controlling for levels of trait anxiety, only specific pho bia symptoms (including animal phobia, blood-injection-injury phobia and si tuational-environmental phobia) and separation anxiety disorder symptoms we re significantly related to disgust sensitivity, although correlations were rather modest. Taken together, these findings cast doubts on the claim tha t disgust sensitivity is an unique and independent factor that contributes to a broad range of anxiety disorders. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All r ights reserved.