Age of onset – anxiety disorders and other mental disorders

Specific targets of fear and anxieties (e.g., strange people, other animals, contaminants) emerge at specific stages of development, and their order of appearance is surprisingly stable among children from vastly different social and cultural environments, ranging from nomadic tribes to large cities.²

References:
1. Solmi M, Radua J, Olivola M, et al. Age at onset of mental disorders worldwide: large-scale meta-analysis of 192 epidemiological studies. Mol Psychiatry 2022; 27 (1): 281–295.

2. Boyer P, Bergstrom B. Threat-detection in child development: an evolutionary perspective. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2011; 35 (4): 1034–1041.