學齡兒童生氣與分離焦慮、社會焦慮之關聯：語文能力的調節效果

The Relationships Among Anger, Separa-tion Anxiety, and Social Anxiety in School-age Children: The Moderating Ef-fect of Verbal Ability

背景與目的：分離焦慮及社交焦慮為學齡兒童常見的焦慮形式，與成年期的情感障礙有密切關聯，探討其風險因子及機制對介入極為重要。生氣與外化性行為有關，然而與內化性行為的關聯有待澄清。本研究目的為檢驗兒童的生氣特質、生氣表達與社交焦慮、分離焦慮症狀的直接關聯，以及兒童語文能力在兩者與社交焦慮、分離焦慮症狀之關聯的調節效果。方法：以71 位臺灣北部就讀小學之典型發展兒童（平均年齡9.24歲，男童45位）及其家長為對象，家長填寫基本資料表、兒童自我評量挫折（亦即生氣特質）及攻擊性（亦即生氣表達）及分離焦慮、社交焦慮症狀，以魏氏兒童智力測驗第四版中的語文理解指數作為兒童語文能力指標。結果：挫折與分離、社交焦慮症狀顯著正相關，控制兒童性別及年齡後，挫折顯著預測分離焦慮。兒童的攻擊性與社交焦慮、分離焦慮無顯著相關，語文理解指數與攻擊性的交互作用顯著預測兒童社交焦慮症狀。結論：學齡兒童的生氣特質增加分離焦慮風險，生氣表達對社交焦慮的關聯受語文能力調節。

 

Background and purpose: Separation anxiety and social anxiety are common forms of anxiety in school-age children and are closely related to affective disorders in adulthood. Investigations of the factors associated with these symptoms and their mechanisms are critical for interventions. Trait anger and anger expression of two components of anger have important associations with externalizing behaviors; however, their relationships with internalizing symptoms remain largely unexamined. The aims of this study were to examine the direct relationship between children’s frustration and aggression and their separation anxiety and social anxiety, respec-tively. The moderating effect of children’s verbal ability on the relationships among frustration, aggression, and symptoms of separation and social anxiety were also investigated. Methods: This study recruited seventy-one typically developing chil-dren attending elementary schools in northern Taiwan (mean age 9.24 years; 45 boys) and their parents. Parents completed demographic information, and children self-reported their frustration (i.e. trait anger), aggression (i.e. anger expression), separation anxiety, and social anxiety symptoms on inventories. Children’s verbal abilities were assessed with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fourth Edition. Results: Frustration positively correlated with symptoms of separation anxiety and social anxiety; however, only frustration had a significant predicting effect on separation anxiety after controlling for gender and age. Aggression had no significant correlations with separation or social anxiety; however, verbal ability moderated the relationship between aggression and social anxiety. Conclusions: Frustration increases the risk of separation anxiety in school-age children. The asso-ciation between aggressive behavior and social anxiety symptoms depends on the level of children’s verbal ability.