The experience of fear is universal and is among the earliest of all forms of psychopathology, if excessively present. To prevent negative developmental outcomes due to early-onset excessive fears in children, it is important to systematically assess these experiences as early as possible. Using the preschool anxiety scale (PAS), we aimed to assess the frequency and structure of anxiety symptoms of 489 preschool-aged children raised in their biological family and 88 raised in foster care (as a high-risk sample) in Germany. While these young children displayed the same types of anxiety most commonly as young children in other countries, the overall occurrence seems to be reported less often by parents in Germany compared to parents from other countries. Anxiety symptoms clustered into five correlated factors (generalized anxiety, social anxiety, obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), physical injury fear and separation anxiety). Young children in foster care exhibited more OCD and significantly less social anxiety symptoms indicating early repetitive and social disturbances in children in foster care.

恐惧的体验是普遍存在的，如果过度存在的话，它是所有形式的精神病理学中最早的一种。为了防止儿童因早发的过度恐惧而导致负面的发育结果，尽早系统地评估这些经历非常重要。我们利用学前焦虑量表 (PAS) 评估了德国 489 名在亲生家庭中长大的学龄前儿童和 88 名在寄养家庭中长大的学龄前儿童（作为高风险样本）的焦虑症状的频率和结构。虽然这些幼儿表现出与其他国家的幼儿最常见的相同类型的焦虑，但与其他国家的父母相比，德国的父母似乎较少报告这种情况。焦虑症状分为五个相关因素（广泛性焦虑、社交焦虑、强迫症（OCD）、身体伤害恐惧和分离焦虑）。寄养儿童表现出更多的强迫症和明显较少的社交焦虑症状，表明寄养儿童早期出现重复性和社交障碍。