ThePrevalence ofDental Anxiety inChildren fromLow-income Families anditsRelationship toPersonality Traits

Theprevalence ofdentalanxiety andthe association between dental anxiety andpersonality traits wereexamined inapopulation-based sampleof895US urbanchildren, from5to11years ofage,fromlow-income families. Dental anxiety wasreported bythechild using the DentalSubscale (DS)oftheChildren's FearSurvey Schedule, andbehavioral problems andpersonality traits wereevaluated byparent report ontheChildBehavior Checklist (CBCL). MeanDSscores were31.1(SD=10.3) for boysand34.3(SD=11.0) forgirls. CBCLscore meanswere 33.3(SD=23.2) forboysand28.5(SD=19.1) forgirls. The hypothesized relationship between DSandCBCLscores in this population wasnotdemonstrated.