Although there is substantial variation across studies, the results of prospective community -based research reveal differential peak periods of onset of specific subtypes of anxiety: separation anxiety and specific phobias in middle childhood; overanxious disorder (OAD) in late childhood; social phobia in middle adolescence; panic disorder in late adolescence; GAD in young adulthood; and OCD in early adulthood.18 Data from prospective studies reveal a sharp increase in girls beginning as early as age 5, with a continuously increasing slope throughout, adolescence. Although rates of anxiety among males also increase throughout childhood and adolescence, the rise is far more gradual than that of females, and they begin to level off in late adolescence. Thus, by age 6, females have significantly greater rates of anxiety than males. Despite the far more rapid increase in anxiety disorders with age in girls than in boys, there are no gender differences in the mean age at onset. of anxiety disorders or in their duration. There are consistent few differences in the distribution of anxiety disorders by ethnicity and social class.56
