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Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) is a dispositional characteristic reflecting negative cognitive, behavioral, and emotional reactivity in response to events or situations that are uncertain. Although closely associated with a generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) diagnosis in adulthood, IU has received little attention in youth. The goal of this study was to examine the construct in children with GAD and nonanxious children, including its incremental validity in predicting GAD severity and worry beyond anxiety. Ninety-eight children 6 to 11 years of age (51% male; 57% Caucasian) were assessed. The sample included 24 with a GAD diagnosis only (i.e., pure GAD), 36 with GAD plus at least one other disorder (i.e., comorbid GAD), and 38 healthy control children. Clinician, parent, and child reports of IU, anxiety, worry, and GAD severity were collected. Significant differences in levels of IU were found across all three groups; the highest levels in children with comorbid GAD, followed by children with pure GAD, and healthy controls. IU significantly contributed to worry but not GAD severity beyond the effects of anxiety. A significantly larger proportion of self-reported IU data were missing for younger (e.g., 6-8 years) as compared to older children, raising question about the validity of the construct in younger children. Overall findings suggest that IU is not specific to a GAD diagnosis in childhood. IU may instead serve as a broad cognitive risk factor for more severe (e.g., comorbid) forms of affective psychopathology. Future directions for research, including developmental considerations, are discussed.

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This study compared parents' retrospective reports of their involvement in infant settling strategies and their relation to current sleep patterns among children (N = 84, ages 7-11) with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and healthy controls. Parents of children with GAD were significantly more likely to report rocking their infants to sleep and putting infants down when they were already asleep than parents of healthy controls, even when accounting for infant health-related factors and parental anxiety. Greater involvement in infant sleep routines also predicted sleep patterns (measured via actigraphy) during childhood, though opposite relationships were observed in the two groups. Early involvement was related to poorer sleep in control children but better sleep for children with GAD even after controlling for current parenting practices. Findings suggest differential effects of early sleep-related parenting for children with and without later anxiety disorders with possible implications for early intervention.

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