The Impact of Gender in the Prevalence, Severity and Comorbidities of Anxiety Disorders. Case of Children from Selected Schools in Dagoretti Sub-County, Nairobi County, Kenya.

Josephine W. Muchiri, Ph.D. Candidate in Clinical Psychology; Michael Bowen, Ph.D; & Naomi James, Ph.D., Daystar University.

Abstract

This correlational survey research investigated the impact of gender on the prevalence, severity and comorbidities of anxiety disorders. The Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED)-Child version questionnaire collected data on prevalence and severity of anxiety disorders while the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (S&DQ) collected data on some of the comorbid conditions. Participants were 163 class 4 and class 8 students (n females = 94, n males = 69), attending two public day primary schools, Kabiria and Kawangware primary schools in Dagoretti Sub-County, Nairobi County, Kenya. Data was analyzed quantitatively using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (version 20) utilizing descriptive statistics, Pearson Chi-Square tests and the analysis of variance (ANOVA). Overall, descriptive statistics showed that females had higher prevalence rates for the ADs (85.1%) compared to males (71%) and the ANOVA revealed statistically significant gender differences in severity of the ADs (p= 0.004). The Chi-Square test of independence showed there was no significant association between gender and homotypic comorbidities X2 (1, N = 163) = 1.68, p = 0.194), where the average number of AD subtypes among females was 3.25 and 3.17 for the males. In the heterotypic comorbidities, more females than males had comorbid emotional problems (Females =13.6%; Males = 4%) and more males than females had peer, hyperactivity and conduct problems (Males: peer= 48.0%, hyperactivity = 20.0%, conduct= 32.0%; Females: peer= 39.3%, hyperactivity = 18.2%, conduct= 15.2%). The findings thus revealed underlying gender specific factors that have a bearing on the prevalence, severity and comorbidity patterns of anxiety disorders.

Keywords: Gender differences, Anxiety disorders, Children, Adolescents, Comorbidities.