Repositori URV

Identifier: TDX:1360

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TDX1360

Authors:
Voltas Moreso, Núria

Abstract:
The aim of this thesis was to make a prospective study of the symptomatology of anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder and to investigate the associated risk factors. From a sample of 1,514 schoolchildren (mean-age=10.23; SD=1.23), 405 subjects at risk of emotional disorders and 157 controls were followed-up for three years. Obsessive-compulsive symptoms were chronic in 30% of cases, and anxiety in 55%. Previous compulsive and separation anxiety symptoms predict the presence of obsessive-compulsive symptomatology. The same predictors were observed for clinical obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), which corroborated the existence of the OCD spectrum. Schoolchildren with persistent anxiety symptoms present more psychopathological symptoms and academic interference. Anxiety is more prevalent, persistent and incident in girls. Social phobia and generalized anxiety were highly prevalent and persistent. The presence of early depressive symptoms predicts lower academic performance. The results show that the relation between the alleles of the MAOA-uVNTR polymorphism and anxiety depends on gender.