The main aim of this study was to compare the frequency and correlates of DSM-IV anxiety disorder symptoms among non-referred adolescents in Germany and in Hong Kong. A total of 1,022 adolescents (594 from Germany and 428 from Hong Kong) between the ages of 12 and 17 years were investigated. Results showed that adolescents in Hong Kong reported significantly higher levels of anxiety symptoms than adolescents in Germany. Anxiety symptoms showed different correlates in different cultures. Specifically, academic motivational goals to compete to get good grades and to be rewarded for their performance correlated significantly with anxiety symptoms in Hong Kong. In Germany, anxiety symptoms correlated significantly with reinforcement received for anxiety-related problems (i.e., instrumental learning) and with parental verbal transmission about the danger of anxiety (i.e., informational learning). The findings underscore the importance of cultural factors on adolescent's anxiety.

Preschool children have long been a neglected population in the study of psychopathology. The Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA), which includes the Child Behavior Checklist/1.5-5 (CBCL/1.5-5) and the Caregiver-Teacher Report Form (C-TRF), constitutes the few available measures to assess preschoolers with an empirically derived taxonomy of preschool psychopathology. However, the utility of the measures and their taxonomy of preschool psychopathology to the Chinese is largely unknown and has not been studied. The present study aimed at testing the cross-cultural factorial validity of the CBCL/1.5-5 and C-TRF, as well as the applicability of the taxonomy of preschool psychopathology they embody, to Mainland Chinese preschoolers. Country effects between our Chinese sample and the original U.S. sample, gender differences, and cross-informant agreement between teachers and parents were also to be examined. A Chinese version of the CBCL/1.5-5 and C-TRF was completed by parents and teachers respectively on 876 preschoolers in Mainland China. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) confirmed the original, U.S.-derived second order, multi-factor model best fit the Chinese preschool data of the CBCL/1.5-5 and C-TRF. Rates of total behavior problems in Chinese preschoolers were largely similar to those in American preschoolers. Specifically, Chinese preschoolers scored higher on internalizing problems while American preschoolers scored higher on externalizing problems. Chinese preschool boys had significantly higher rates of externalizing problems than Chinese preschool girls. Cross-informant agreement between Chinese teachers and parents was relatively low compared to agreement in the original U.S. sample. Results support the generalizability of the taxonomic structure of preschool psychopathology derived in the U.S. to the Chinese, as well as the applicability of the Chinese version of the CBCL/1.5-5 and C-TRF. KeywordsCBCL; Externalizing; Internalizing; Preschool; Cross-cultural; Chinese children; CFA; Confirmatory factor analysis; Validation Correspondence to: Jianghong Liu, jhliu@nursing.upenn.edu; Patrick W. L. Leung, pleung@cuhk.edu.hk. The development of the preschool versions of the CBCL and C-TRF offers several notable merits. First, it fills in the gaps in our knowledge on preschool psychopathology and constructs a taxonomy of preschool behavior problems by identifying syndromes and higher-order broad-band problems. Second, the preschool versions explicitly address the developmental concerns of children during this age period. While it shares some items with the school-age version, there are specific items written for the preschool period, which consequently form different syndromes, including aggression, defiance, hyperactivity, fears, and social anxiety. These emotions and behaviors are all common in preschoolers (e.g., Tremblay 2004). NIH Public AccessFactor analysis performed on the CBCL/1.5-5 and C-TRF has separately produced six syndromes for each measure: Emotionally Reactive, Anx...