Researchers from the University of Copenhagen and University of Sussex report 2 studies in: Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology that begin to answer this important question. The study found that in a community sample of 587 youth aged 7-17 years metacognitive beliefs that are central in the model explained unique variation (14%) in worry scores beyond the effects of gender, age and anxiety. In study 2, children aged 7-12 with and without a diagnosis of generalized anxiety were compared. The results confirmed that the GAD group showed higher negative metacognition belief scores than a group comprised of other anxiety disorders and a non-anxious group. The authors conclude that the results of their study support the extension of the metacognitive model to children as young as 7 years of age.