How do eight-year-olds experience panic attacks?

In a representative sample of 826 eight-year-olds we examined the frequency of spontaneous and situationally predisposed panic attacks and their assoc iation with anxiety sensitivity, physical complaints, illness concepts, par ental anxiety and depressive symptomatology, birth complications, and famil y problems. Panic attacks out of the blue could not be detected; however, 2 1.4 % of the children experienced situationally predisposed or stimulus-bou nd panic attacks, most frequently in the dark, in separation situa-tions, a nd in face of animals. Panic attacks in children who received an anxiety di agnosis hardly differed from those of children without such a diagnosis as far as symptomatology was concerned. The key symptom in boys was intense pa lpitations, in girls crawling in the stomach. There are significant positiv e associations between panic attacks and family problems, illness knowledge , mother's anxiety, physical complaints and anxiety sensitivity. The study demonstrates that young children are not yet prone to spontaneous panic att acks.