Introduction. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a disabling condition that often begins in childhood. Cognitive behavioural therapy for paediatric OCD is effective and often considered the treatment of choice. While cognitive models of OCD have improved our understanding and interventions in adult populations, it has scarcely been investigated in children. Those models assume that obsessions are extreme variants of unwanted obsessional intrusive thoughts (OITs), which are almost universally experienced in the general populations. This assumption has received empirical support in adult samples but there are almost no studies analysing the presence of OITs in preadolescents. Method. 49 children (28 girls and 21 boys, mean age 9.1 years, range 8-10 years) were recruited from a community sample (two public schools in Spain). Participants were individually interviewed using the newly developed Children’s Anxious Thoughts Interview (CATI). Using the first part of the CATI, an interviewer explored whether participants had ever experienced OITs in six content domains. For each thought reported, an example was requested and subsequently analysed to determine whether it met criteria to be considered an OIT. The frequency (marked in a 100 mm visual analogue scale ranging from hardly ever to every day) and last date that the thought was experienced were also recorded. Participants also completed self-report measures of anxiety (SCAS) and obsessive-compulsive symptoms (ChOCI-R). Results. 33 children endorsed having experienced at least one OIT. The most frequently endorsed content related to harm (n=18) followed by doubt (n=14), superstition (n=4), order (n=2) and aggression (n=1). No contamination OITs were reported. Only 4 children endorsed more than one OIT, with the most frequent combination being harm and doubt. Of 33 children who had experienced at least one OIT, 14 reported having had one in the last 3 months and with a frequency of at least 50 (scale from 0 to 100). Children were divided into three groups according to frequency and recency of OIT experiences: frequent and recent OITs (n=14); OITs that were not frequent or recent (n=19); no OITs. Group scores on SCAS and ChOCI-R were compared using ANOVA. Group differences (p> .05) were found for both instruments. Post-hoc comparisons indicated that those children with frequent and recent OITs experienced significantly higher anxiety (SCAS) and more serious obsessions and compulsions (as shown by the interference scales of the ChOCI-R). Discussion. Our results show that children as young as 8-9 years old are able to report thoughts with the formal characteristics of intrusions and contents characteristics of OCD, although their prevalence may be not as high as in adults. Whilst the occasional recognition of an OIT was not associated with anxiety or OCD symptoms, recent and frequent experiences of OITs was associated with higher anxiety and OCD symptoms. These results are compatible with the cognitive model of OCD, which posits that it is not the experience of OITs themselves that lead to distress but certain pathological appraisals and coping mechanisms. Acknowledgment. Grant RTI2018-098349-B-I00-Ministry of Science and Innovation – State Research Agency of Spain, co-funded by European Union European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).