ABSTRACT
Children and adolescents with anxiety disorders will be increasingly prevalent as we approach the twenty-first century. This generation has grown up in an environment filled with dangers that earlier generations did not have to consider. Here are but a few examples of the stressors that surround kids and contribute to anxiety disorders:
Approximately 2,000 adolescents are arrested annually for murder.
Approximately 34,000 adolescents are arrested annually for aggravated assault.
The murder rate per 100,000 for white males was 3.8 in 1950. By 1988 it had risen to 7.9. For black males, the murder rate for the same period rose from 58.9 to 101.8.
One in five students carries a weapon to school at least once a month.
For every gun in school, there are seven (7) knives brought to school.
The current divorce rate is between 40% and 50%.
There are 2.5 million more children below the poverty level today than in 1980.
The average work week went from under 41 hours in 1973 to nearly 47 hours in 1989.
