Behavioral assessment of anxiety in older adults. Some comments.

Castañe et al. (1993) looked at how we measure anxiety in adults over 55.

They wrote a story-style review and said the tools are weak.

The team asked for better checks that mix ratings, watch data, and self-report.

The review found almost no behavior-based anxiety tests for older adults.

Most tools were built for younger people and may miss late-life signs.

The paper ends with a call: build new tests and prove they work.

Storch et al. (2012) answered the call. They ran a factor check on the 30-item Anxiety Control Questionnaire in seniors and found four clean factors.

Francis (1988) spotted the same gap, but in kids. Both reviews say the same thing: anxiety tools need age-tailored psychometrics.

Lecavalier et al. (2014) overlap in spirit. Their panel found only four anxiety scales ready for youth with autism, showing the problem spans diagnoses and ages.

If you screen anxious older clients, do not trust youth-normed tools alone.

Grab the ACQ full form or push your team to collect watch, rating, and talk data together.

Your report will hold more weight when the next clinician reads it.