Generalized Anxiety Disorder among Preschool Children in Baghdad, Iraq

Background: generalized anxiety disorder is a mental health disorder manifested by a lot of worry with no real cause and more intense than situation need. Few publications on anxiety among preschool anxiety in Iraq. Objective: to report on generalized anxiety disorder among preschool children in Iraq (prevalence and determinant factors). Methods: A total 423 preschool children was included in the study. They were recruited from 4 public and 4 private kindergartens. They were selected randomly from Al-Rusafa Al-Thania Education directorate (one out 3 directorates in Al-Rusafa). Spence Child Anxiety Scale-parent version was used to assess the anxiety. Results: Generalized anxiety disorder was observed in 37.4% of children. Among the ages 4, 5, and 6 years, generalized anxiety disorder was observed in 37.2%, 35% and 4.3%, respectively. Rate of the disorder among males was 34.2% and among females was 40.2%. In public kindergartens the rate of the disorder was significantly higher (43%)than in private ones (31.6%). In low, middle and high socioeconomic status the rate of disorder were 57.7%, 29.2% and 34.4%, respectively. Paternal and maternal educational levels were significantly affecting the rate of generalized anxiety disorder (p = 0.003 and 0.009, respectively). The rate of the disorder among preschool children cared by one parent was significantly higher (86.6%) than those cared by both parents (27.4%) (p=0.0001). Conclusion: A high prevalence of generalized anxiety disorder among preschool children was observed. Private kindergarten showed lower rate of the disorder than the public ones.