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The relationship between child-report, parent self-report, and partner report of perceived parental rearing behaviors and anxiety in children and parents
Abstract
This study investigated the relationship between child anxiety, parental anxiety, and perceived current parental rearing practices, using a multiple informants approach, that is, by aggregating the perception of the child, parent and partner on parental rearing behaviors. Unselected children aged 9–12 (n=75) and both their biological parents filled in the SCARED-C to measure child anxiety, and parents completed the SCARED-A to measure parental anxiety. In addition, child report, parental self-report, and partner report of the rearing dimensions “autonomy-encouragement versus overprotection”, “acceptance versus rejection”, and “psychological control” of both parents was assessed. Results showed that the homogeneity of some rearing dimensions using a single informant was insufficient, but sufficient when using multiple informants. Inter-informant agreement was low (M=0.29). Three-informants' aggregates yielded good generalizability (M=0.54), and the generalizability of six-informants' aggregates (combining both parents) was impressive (M=0.76). Using multiple informants, parental autonomy granting versus overprotection was substantially related to child anxiety (r=−0.41, p<0.001), as well as to parental anxiety (r=−0.45, p<0.001). More precisely, paternal autonomy–overprotection was predominantly related to child anxiety, whereas maternal autonomy–overprotection was predominantly related to maternal anxiety. Acceptance versus rejection and psychological control were only modestly related to child and parental anxiety.
... Parental overcontrol (OC), or the extent to which parents are overprotective with their child or limit their child's ability to engage in activities that the parent perceives as potentially threatening, is also associated with childhood anxiety (e.g., Beesdo et al., 2010;Bögels and Brechman-Toussaint, 2006;Bögels & van Melick, 2004). Specifically, mothers high in OC may perceive their child as vulnerable to threat (Siqueland et al., 1996), leading them to actively attempt to keep their child away from potentially dangerous situations and to maintain continuous supervision over their child (Solyom et al., 1976). ...
... Rearing behaviour questionnairechild version (RBQ-C; Bögels & van Melick, 2004;Verhoeven et al., 2012) The RBQ-C was designed to be a parallel child-report form to the RBQ-P, outlined above; the child version was initially validated on a non-referred sample of children (aged 8-12 years) and adolescents (aged 13-18 years). Verhoeven et al. (2012) reported that Cronbach's alpha ranged from 0.65 to 0.78 for the child-and parent-reported autonomy-granting, rejection, and overcontrol subscales. ...
... Finally, we conducted mediational analyses to assess the extent to which our cognitive variable of interest (PBA) significantly mediated (1) the relationship between parental anxiety and OC and AG and (2) the relationship between OC and AG and adolescent anxiety. In the context of previous research suggesting links between maternal anxiety and OC (e.g., Borelli et al., 2015), OC and child anxiety (e.g., Beesdo et al., 2010;Bögels & Brechman-Toussaint, 2006;Bögels & van Melick, 2004), as well as evidence suggesting that the relationship between parental anxiety and OC might be explained by parental cognitive variables (e.g., Woodruff-Borden et al., 2002), we sought in this study to examine PBA as a potential mechanism that might underlie these associations. Because parental beliefs have been found to mediate the relationship between parent and child anxiety (e.g., Francis & Chorpita, 2011) and to potentially be associated with parents' OC behaviors, we identified PBA as the potential mediator in this instance. ...
Parental negative beliefs about child anxiety (PBA; e.g., thoughts that experiencing anxiety is harmful for the child) are significantly associated with child anxiety, parental involvement in child anxiety treatment, and parental accommodation of anxious child behaviors, suggesting that parents high in PBA might engage in overprotective and restrictive parenting behaviors. The parental behaviors of overcontrol (OC) and autonomy granting (AG) are also linked to child anxiety; however, the mediating role of PBA in the context of parental and adolescent anxiety and parental OC and AG has not been examined. Online survey self-report data were collected from 119 adolescents and their parents (54 mother-adolescent dyads and 57 father-adolescent dyads), on the variables of adolescent anxiety, parent- and adolescent-reported AG and OC, and PBA to test exploratory models of these constructs. PBA correlated significantly with adolescent anxiety and adolescent- and parent-reported OC, but with neither adolescent- nor parent-reported AG. PBA partially mediated the relationship between parental anxiety and OC in the full sample and for fathers, but not mothers. PBA also significantly mediated the relationship between parent- and adolescent-reported OC and adolescent anxiety, both in the full sample as well as for the father and mother subsamples. For mother dyads, parental anxiety was correlated with OC, but not AG, whereas for father dyads, paternal anxiety was associated with AG, but not OC. Findings suggest that addressing parents’ beliefs about their adolescent’s anxiety might provide one potential point of intervention when attempting to address overprotective behaviors that might impede an adolescent’s treatment outcome.
... Theoretical models, such as the transactional model of parenting (Sameroff & MacKenzie, 2003), suggest that parenting is bidirectionally related to child or adolescent behaviors. Previous research suggests that exploring children's perspectives may provide more precise outcomes than relying on parent-reported behaviors, as parents have a tendency to view their parenting more positively than their children do (Bögels & Van Melick, 2004). Additionally, associations might be stronger when focusing on adolescents' perspectives as one's perceptions are more strongly related to one's behavior than others' perceptions. ...
... First, this study relied exclusively on self-reported information, adolescents' reports of parenting behaviors might differ from parent reports or observations (De Los Reyes et al., 2015;Nelemans et al., 2016). However, child-reported parental behaviors are preferred over parents' self-report, because parents tend to perceive their parenting as more positive than their children (Bögels & Van Melick, 2004). Therefore, self-report can be a powerful method to assess internal states and perceived behaviors of parents and friends. ...
Although theories suggest transactional associations between adolescents' autonomy and relationships with parents and friends, few studies have examined these within-person effects. This longitudinal study examined the within-person co-development of adolescents' autonomy and relationships with parents and friends. Adolescents (N = 244 Mage = 11.54, SD = 0.43 at T1; 50% boys) participated in a four-wave study across 2 years in the Netherlands. In random-intercept cross-lagged panel models, within-person results showed that higher levels of autonomy predicted less parental psychological control but not vice versa. However, no lagged-effects between friend support and autonomy were found. This study suggests that adolescents' autonomy steers changes in parental psychological control.
... Anxiety felt by parents can lead to anxiety in children (Woodruff-Borden et al., 2002). Results from previous papers indicated that parental anxiety is associated with anxiety in children (Alisinanoğlu & Ulutaş, 2003;Bögels & van Melick, 2004;Peleg-Popko, 2004;Whaley et al., 1999). In this regard, it was highlighted that anxiety levels are higher in children of anxious parents and parents of anxious children compared to other parents or children (Borelli et al., 2015). ...
... A literature review revealed that many studies on child and parent interaction have been reported such as parental attitudes, parental expectations, and factors related to family communication to understanding student's exam anxiety. Parent's anxiety level (e.g.,: Bögels & van Melick, 2004;Peleg-Popko, 2004) and parenting styles (e.g.,: Drake & Ginsburg, 2012;Ginsburg et al., 2006) are identified as factors related to the development of anxiety in children. However, there is no study that examines the effects of exam anxiety perceived by parents on students' level of exam anxiety. ...
Objectives: Exam Anxiety is a condition influenced by both personal and environmental factors as well as cultural, family, and family-related systems. Accordingly, the current study aims at determining the predictive role of parental exam anxiety with irrational beliefs and perfectionism in explaining students’ exam anxiety. Methods: The study included a total of 1006 participants, students (N = 503 (58%) female and (42%) male) and parents (N = 503 (65%) female and (35%) male) of these students. The Test Anxiety Inventory, Exam Anxiety Scale for Parents, The Irrational Beliefs Scale for Adolescence, and Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale were used as data collection instruments for this study. Results: The regression analyses indicated that exam anxiety in students was significantly predicted by the worry sub-dimension of parental exam anxiety, irrational beliefs as well as concern over mistakes, parental criticism, and doubting of actions sub-dimension of perfectionism. Conclusion: The findings are discussed and explained based on the relevant literature.
... Increased dependence on the caregiver can then occur and interfere with the child's development of independent coping skills, thus making these parenting behaviors overprotective Rubin et at., 2002). Indeed, a host of research establishes a robust link between maternal overprotective parenting behaviors and childhood anxiety and other internalizing problems (Bögels & van Melick, 2004;McShane & Hastings, 2009), making this an important area for investigation. ...
... If first-time mothers do engage in these behaviors, their first-born children may not develop the skills necessary to cultivate autonomy in novel situations (McShane & Hastings, 2009). This places children at risk for anxiety development (Bögels & van Melick, 2004;McShane & Hastings, 2009). It remains important to parse apart, however, if unique individual differences exist that make some firsttime mothers more vulnerable to engaging in overprotective parenting behaviors. ...
This study examined maternal characteristics that relate to child anxiety risk in a nonclinical sample. Parity and maternal respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) were examined in relation to maternal overprotective parenting behavior, and then to child anxiety risk. Mothers (n = 151) and their 24-month-old children participated in a laboratory visit in which mothers completed questionnaires about their parenting demographics (i.e., parity), their overprotective parenting behavior, and child anxiety risk. Mothers’ RSA was measured during a 5-min. baseline period. Maternal overprotection was observed during a puppet show episode. Moderated mediation analyses revealed that first-time motherhood indirectly related to increased anxiety risk through greater overprotective parenting when mothers also had high RSA. Results suggest high baseline maternal psychophysiology indicative of regulation serves as a context by which parity relates to maternal overprotection. Engaging in overprotection may require higher, rather than lower, regulatory capabilities. First-time mothers may benefit from psychoeducation around the way in which their parasympathetic regulation relates to their parenting behaviors and contributes to increased child anxiety proneness.
... Although self-reports on parenting have limited validity due to reporting biases, such as socially desirable reporting (Morsbach and Prinz, 2006), it should be noted that we also used partner reports of parenting. Partner-reported parenting seems to be less prone to these biases and, thus, increase the validity of the measurement (Bögels and van Melick, 2004). Our results were consistent regardless of whether parental selfor partner reports were used, which provides tentative support for the common method bias explanation. ...
... Third, despite our multi-informant assessments of parenting, we used only questionnaire-based information reported by parents. Parental reports are prone to several reporting biases (Morsbach and Prinz, 2006), albeit some of these biases are mitigated in partner reports (Bögels and van Melick, 2004). The use of observational methods might have led to different results. ...
The quality of parenting shapes the development of children’s emotion regulation. However, the relative importance of parenting in different developmental stages, indicative of sensitive periods, has rarely been studied. Therefore, we formulated four hypothetical developmental timing models to test the stage-specific effects of mothering and fathering in terms of parental autonomy and intimacy in infancy, middle childhood, and late adolescence on adolescents’ emotion regulation. The emotion regulation included reappraisal, suppression, and rumination. We hypothesized that both mothering and fathering in each developmental stage contribute unique effects to adolescents’ emotion regulation patterns. The participants were 885 families followed from pregnancy to late adolescence. This preregistered study used data at the children’s ages of 1 year, 7 to 8 years, and 18 years. At each measurement point, maternal and paternal autonomy and intimacy were assessed with self- and partner reports using the Subjective Family Picture Test. At the age of 18 years, adolescents’ reappraisal and suppression were assessed using the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire and rumination using the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. Stage-specific effects were tested comparing structural equation models. Against our hypotheses, the results showed no effects of mothering or fathering in infancy, middle childhood, or late adolescence on adolescents’ emotion regulation patterns. The results were consistent irrespective of both the reporter (i.e., self or partner) and the parental dimension (i.e., autonomy or intimacy). In addition to our main results, there were relatively low agreement between the parents in each other’s parenting and descriptive discontinuity of parenting across time (i.e., configural measurement invariance). Overall, we found no support for the stage-specific effects of parent-reported parenting in infancy, middle childhood, or late adolescence on adolescents’ emotion regulation. Instead, our findings might reflect the high developmental plasticity of emotion regulation from infancy to late adolescence.
... While explaining the findings, it should also be noted that overprotective parenting is traditionally perceived as a positive parenting style in Turkey. Mothers who recall receiving less maternal warmth, might try to adopt an opposite parenting behavior as a coping or a defense mechanism (Rudy & Grusec, 2006;Yetkin & Aksoy, 2019), and utilize an overprotective parenting style which requires less emotion regulation and sensitivity (Coplan et al., 2009;Khafi et al., 2019), adjusts well with a negative worldview, anxiety, and the need to control (Bögels & van Melick, 2004;Coplan et al., 2008;Parker & Lipscombe, 1981), making it affordable, for the mothers who have poor psychological resources, as a culturally accepted and appreciated parenting style. Future studies might focus on revealing more about the complex mechanisms by which intergenerational transmission of parenting occurs. ...
This study examined whether perceived parental acceptance and rejection of mothers and their parental attitudes predict emotional and behavioral challenges in their children and whether and which parental attitudes mediate the relationship. One hundred eighty-eight mothers with children between 4 and 6 years old participated in the study. Mothers completed demographic questions as well as self-report measures, including the Adult Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire Short Form (PARQ), Parental Attitudes Research Inventory (PARI), and Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Regression analyses indicate that the PARQ mother warmth subscale and PARI democratic attitude subscale negatively predict emotional and behavioral problems of children, whereas the PARI overprotection subscale positively predicts emotional and behavioral problems of children. In other words, when mothers perceive receiving warmth from their own mothers and when they exhibit more democratic attitudes, it tends to be linked with fewer emotional and behavioral difficulties in their children, whereas when mothers display overprotective behaviors, it tends to be associated with a higher likelihood of emotional and behavioral difficulties in their children. Mediation analyses show that democratic attitude and overprotectiveness subscales partially mediate the link between the mother warmth subscale and total difficulties scores (behavioral and emotional difficulties combined) of children. Democratic attitude, and overprotectiveness, help clarify how a mothers’ remembrances of warmth from their own mothers is linked to the current emotional and behavioral challenges faced by their children. These findings might enhance our understanding of the process of intergenerational transmission of parenting and its current implications as well as provide helpful information for parent–child mental health programs.
... To our knowledge, the SCARED-A is the only measure that specifically assesses the symptoms of all DSM-IV anxiety disorders in adulthood. It was modified by Bögels and van Melick (2004) from the SCARED. The content of the items stayed the same but was rephrased based on adults' perspectives. ...
There is evidence that anxiety is transmitted across generations. However, little is known about this issue in rural Chinese families and the factors that could buffer this transmission. Using cross-sectional data of 642 mother-child dyads in families with a migrating father and non-migrant families from Chinese rural areas, we examined the transmission of anxiety from mothers to adolescents and the protective roles of father-child attachment security and friend support in this association. Adolescents reported on their attachment security to fathers, friend support, and anxiety, and mothers self-reported on maternal anxiety. We used hierarchical regression analyses to evaluate the moderating roles of father-child attachment security and friend support in the intergenerational transmission of anxiety. The results provided evidence of the cross-generational transmission of anxiety in rural Chinese families and supported the hypothesis that the protective effects of father-child attachment security and friend support in the transmission of anxiety vary between the two types of families. Father-child attachment security buffered the transmission of anxiety from mothers to adolescents among non-migrant families, and friend support buffered this transmission among families with a migrating father. These findings broadened our understanding of the factors and processes that account for intergenerational continuity and discontinuity in anxiety in rural China.
... Fourth, parent-child attachment relationships were measured with a parent-report questionnaire. Parents and children differ in their perceptions of relationship quality with each other (Bögels & Melick, 2004), and parents may report in a socially desirable way when it comes to measuring parents' relationships with and parenting practices toward children (Bornstein et al., 2015). In sum, using a longitudinal design and multiple informants may add a deeper and rigorous understanding to the association between parent-child attachment relationships and adolescent LS beyond the existing findings which are based largely on a cross-sectional design and self-reported informant. ...
Life satisfaction (LS) is a core dimension of subjective well-being and is linked to many life outcomes in adolescents. Among other indicators of optimal functioning in youth, LS has been understudied; not until the last decade did research on adolescent LS show a resurgence. Parent–child attachment relationships are considered a vital factor contributing to adolescent LS. However, extant studies are predominantly cross-sectional, and few studies have examined its underlying mechanisms. This study is designed to bridge those gaps. Drawing on ecological system theories, it examines the association between parent–child attachment relationships and adolescent LS. It also investigates resilience as a mediator and teacher-student relationships (TSR) as a moderator using a three-wave longitudinal design, with a 6-month interval between each wave. Participants were 815 Chinese adolescents (53.9% boys, Mage = 11.53 years) and one of their parents (65.28% mothers). Adolescents reported on TSR at T1, resilience at T2, and LS at T1 and T3, whereas their parents reported on parent–child attachment relationships at T1. Overall, results of the moderated mediation model indicate that after controlling for T1 LS and covariates, T1 parent–child attachment relationships predicted T3 LS via T2 resilience only for adolescents with a high-quality TSR but not for those with a low or medium quality of TSR. This research contributes to the literature on the synergistic interplay between interpersonal and intrapersonal resources in predicting resilience and LS in adolescents. The findings have implications for well-being interventions for adolescents with diverse qualities of connections with teachers
... D'une part, parce que la littérature sur le sujet comprend majoritairement des études qui se sont basées sur la relation mère-enfant, plutôt que sur la dyade mère-adolescent.e. D'autre part, parce qu'il s'avère que le point de vue des adolescents quant à la nature des pratiques parentales est davantage prédictif et fidèle à la réalité que celui des mères (Beaudet-Ménard et al., 2016;Bögels et van Melick, 2004;Soenens et al., 2015). ...
... However, multi-informant approaches can be costly and typically require substantial resources to implement, and were thus outside the scope of the present research. In addition, some researchers have suggested that child-reported parental behaviors are preferred relative to parents' self-report, as parents tend to have a more positive view of their own parenting (Bögels & Van Melick, 2004). Thirdly, the PBI requires participants to recall their experience of their parents' parenting behaviors before age 16. ...
Based on Beck’s cognitive model, this study aimed to examine the mediating role of self-acceptance in the relationships between parenting behaviors and fears of compassion from others/for self. A set of questionnaires were completed by 684 undergraduate students from a university in Fujian Province in China, and Structural Equation Modelling was employed to analyze the data. The results showed that parental care was positively associated with self-approval and self-evaluation, whereas parental overprotection was negatively related to self-approval and self-evaluation. Furthermore, self-approval contributed to fear of compassion from others and for self subsequently, and self-evaluation only contributed to fear of compassion for self subsequently. These findings support the mediating role of self-acceptance in the relationship between parental care/overprotection and fears of compassion from others/for self. In addition, the study found that self-approval, rather than self-evaluation, played a mediating role between parental care/overprotection and fear of compassion from others.
... Third, patterns of findings in the parenting field showed that when parental behaviors were assessed through observational methods, they displayed significant relations with child EF to a greater extent compared to studies using self-or child-reports. Previous research suggest no (Herbers et al., 2017) or low (Hendriks et al., 2018) correlation between observed and self-reported parental behaviors which may stem from parents' tendencies to present their child-rearing practices in a socially desirable way (Bögels & van Melick, 2004;Schwarz et al., 1985;Waylen et al., 2008). Further, while self-reports rely on parents' own frame of reference for their behaviors, observational methods use the same frame of reference for all parents, possibly making observations a more reliable method to measure differences between parents and to investigate the relationship between parental behaviors and child EF. ...
The aim of the current systematic review is (1) to examine theoretical frameworks and mechanisms explaining the association between parental and teacher behaviors and child executive function (EF) development, and (2) to compare and combine empirical findings for the relationship between parental and teacher behaviors and child EF development in early and middle childhood. Results revealed that theoretical frameworks have been established more strongly in the parent literature and parental behaviors have been more extensively studied with more diverse terms compared to studies in teacher literature. Overall, patterns of findings suggest that positive (e.g., emotional support) and cognitive parental/teacher behaviors (e.g., cognitive stimulation) were positively linked to child EF performance while negative behaviors (e.g., intrusiveness) were adversely related. Considering the similar roles of parents and teachers in child EF development, insights from parent literature could enable a better understanding of the impact of teacher behaviors on child EF (and vice versa), and opens new venues for future teacher research. Moreover, these findings suggest that, in addition to genetic transmission, social factors such as parent/teacher-child interactions play a significant role in EF development. Future research should investigate the joint influence of parent and teacher behaviors on child EF.
... Future studies are recommended to include both non-clinical and clinical samples to investigate the developmental trajectories of specific anxiety symptoms during early childhood in a diverse population. In addition, children's anxiety symptoms in this study were only reported by mothers, the results of which may be influenced by mothers' anxious cognitive bias [46,47]. Future studies are recommended to include child anxiety measures reported by different informants (e.g., children themselves or independent assessors) to overcome this limitation. ...
Although developmental trajectories of anxiety have begun to be explored, most research has focused on total anxiety symptom scores in middle childhood and adolescence. Little is known about the developmental trajectories of specific anxiety symptoms in early childhood. This three-wave longitudinal study investigated (1) the developmental trajectories of four specific anxiety symptoms (separation anxiety, special fear, social anxiety, and generalized anxiety) during early childhood, and (2) the association between maternal anxious rearing behaviors and these four specific anxiety symptoms concurrently and over time. Mothers of 105 Chinese children completed the Preschool Anxiety Scale (PAS) and the “Egna Minnen Beträffande Uppfostran” for parents (EMBU-P) to report their child’s anxiety symptoms and their own anxious rearing behaviors when their child was 2–4, 3–5, and 6–7 years old. The results of latent growth curve modelling (LGCM) showed that participating children exhibited a slight linear decrease in special fear and social anxiety across three time points, whereas the trajectories of separation anxiety and generalized anxiety remained stable. Maternal anxious rearing behaviors were significant and positively related to children’s separation anxiety at T3 and specific fear at T1 and T2 but unrelated to social anxiety and generalized anxiety at any time points. These findings help us better understand how various types of anxiety problems develop in early life and isolate the risk factors (e.g., maternal anxious rearing behaviors) contributing to the emergence and continuity of anxiety problems as early as possible.
... Parents reported their anxiety in the adult version of Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders SCARED-A (Bögels & Melick, 2004). The SCARED-A consists of 71 items on a 3-point Likert scale (0 = almost never to 2 = often). ...
Introduction:
Theoretical and empirical evidence suggests that the effect of parental verbal threat information on the offspring's fear acquisition of novel stimuli may be causal. The current study investigated this verbal fear acquisition pathway from parents to children in the unique context of Covid-19 as a novel environmental threat for parents and children.
Methods:
Using an online cross-sectional survey, we collected data about fear of Covid-19, parent-child communication, parental anxiety, and child temperament, in the period between June 11th 2020 and May 28th 2021. Participants were 8 to 18-year-old children (N = 195; Mage = 14.23; 113 girls) and their parents (N = 193; Mage = 47.82; 146 mothers) living in the Netherlands.
Results:
Children of parents with stronger Covid-19 fears also reported stronger Covid-19 fears. Moreover, parents who were more fearful of Covid-19 provided more threat-related information about the virus to their children. More parental threat information in turn was related to stronger fear of Covid-19 in their children, and partly mediated the link between parent and child fear of the virus. The link between parental threat information and children's fear of Covid-19 was not moderated by child temperament or parental anxiety.
Conclusions:
Parental communication about Covid-19 may play a role in children's fear acquisition of Covid-19. The lack of moderation of this link by parental anxiety and child temperament may reflect the potentially adaptive nature of verbal fear transmission during the first year of the pandemic and the nonclinical levels of fear in this community sample.
... Many different parenting style scales have been developed to measure children's perceptions of their parent's style, including the Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire (PSDQ; [38], the Parenting Styles Scale (PSS; [39], the Egna Minnen Beträffande Uppfostran (EMBU; [40], and the Rearing Behavior Questionnaire (RBQ; [41]. Although each of these measures have been used extensively in research globally, studies in China have primarily used Chinese translations of either the EMBU or the RBQ. ...
Previous research on the relationship between parenting style and social anxiety in Chinese youth has been inconsistent, which has made it difficult to consider whether improving parenting may serve as a preventative intervention for social anxi- ety. The current study aimed to clarify these inconsistencies by examining the strength of the association between positive/ negative parenting style and social anxiety among Chinese students and the role of certain moderators in those associations. A meta-analysis was conducted on 53 studies with a total sample of 26,024 Chinese mainland students. Separate analyses were conducted for positive parenting style and social anxiety (N = 24,081), and negative parenting style and social anxiety (N = 24,933). Findings suggest a small negative association exists between positive parenting style and social anxiety, and a small positive association exists between negative parenting style and child social anxiety. Analyses suggested type of social anxiety measures, developmental stage, and gender all moderated the relationships between parenting style and social anxi- ety. Results clarify the direction of the relationship between parenting and social anxiety amongst Chinese youth and point to particular implications and future directions for policy, practice, and research.
... Another limitation was the exclusive reliance on measures reported by parents, providing only an indirect characterization of the child. Parents often underreport negative parenting behaviors (Bögels & Melick, 2004), suggesting that self-reports of overcontrol may underestimate the prevalence of these behaviors. Third, questionnaires were sent to the child's homes and aimed at both parents; there was no way of controlling whether the parents actually filled out the questionnaires separately or together. ...
The main objective of this study was to examine how parental characteristics, such as social anxiety (SA) and parental overprotection, and child’s behavioral inhibition (BI) interact and contribute to the manifestation of SA symptoms in preschoolers. Parents (Mothers: n = 319; Fathers: n = 263) of children aged between 3 and 6 years answered to self-report measures of overprotection and SA and measures of SA and BI about their children. A positive moderate direct association was observed between children’s BI and children’s SA, independently of gender. Overprotection arises as a mediator of the effects of the parents’ social anxiety on children’s SA; however, this mediation depends both on the child’s and parents’ gender. Only mother’s SA was directly related to children’s SA, independently of the gender of the child. Overall, these findings extend to preschool children the previous studies that consider parents’ overprotective styles and social anxiety, as well as child’s BI, the main variables underlying the SA in childhood. In addition, our results highlight the importance of considering the moderator role of gender in the origin and maintenance of SA symptoms in preschoolers.
... Anxiety-enhancing parenting behaviors (anxiogenic parenting practices: overcontrol, overprotection, anxious modeling, accommodation; Flessner et al., 2017;Ginsburg & Schlossberg, 2002;Jones et al., 2015;Jongerden & Bö gels, 2015) are one factor that has been widely studied and supported in the development and exacerbation of childhood anxiety disorders. In addition to their relationship with child anxiety, anxiogenic parenting practices are also associated with increased levels of parent anxiety and distress (Barrett et al., 2002;Bogels & van Melick, 2004;Drake & Ginsburg, 2011;Peris et al., 2008). Although these practices have been primarily examined within anxious populations, it is likely that they are similarly present among other samples. ...
Aim:
Pediatric food allergy represents a significant public health burden. In order to avoid allergen consumption, adequate management requires daily vigilance and involvement from parents, frequently leading to increased parental anxiety. While specific anxiogenic parenting practices (i.e., parenting behaviors which may aid in the development and/or exacerbation of childhood anxiety) have been documented within this population, to this point, these behaviors have not been systematically measured.
Objectives:
The current study aimed to develop and examine a parent-report scale designed to measure anxiogenic parenting behaviors related to food allergy.
Methods:
Participants included 177 parents of children with food allergy recruited online using Amazon Mechanical Turk (mTurk). An exploratory factor analysis was conducted to determine the factor structure of the newly developed scale. Subsequently, psychometric properties (e.g., construct validity) were examined via correlational analyses.
Results:
Results indicated a 24-item, 3 factor (Factor 1: Involvement in Food Allergy; Factor 2: Worry about Food Allergy; Factor 3: Autonomy Promotion) scale, which accounted for 53.11% of the total variance. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure was acceptable, KMO = 0.872 and Bartlett's test of sphericity indicated sufficient correlations between items (χ2 (378) = 2568.95). All subscales demonstrated strong internal consistency (Involvement in Food Allergy: α = .880; Worry about Food Allergy: α = .892; Autonomy Promotion α = .796) as well as convergent and discriminant validity.
Conclusions:
Results support the overall psychometric properties of the scale. Interpretations, limitations, and future directions are discussed.
... This finding agrees with studies by Rantavuori et al. and El-Housseiny et al., in which children of highly educated parents were more fearful than children with parents of lower education [54,55]. This might be because highly educated parents tend to be overprotective, and parental overprotection is strongly related to children's anxiety [56]. Moreover, overprotective parents usually spend more time with their children, striving for perfect parenting, and they do not allow them to interact with strangers; this may result in dependent and attached children who grow up to be fearful of strangers. ...
This randomized clinical trial aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a specially designed dental storybook in reducing dental anxiety among children. Eighty-eight children (6–8 years old) were randomly divided into two groups: the intervention group (received the storybook) and the control group (did not receive the storybook). Three dental visits (screening, examination and cleaning, and treatment) were provided for each child. Anxiety was assessed following each visit using the Children’s Fear Survey Schedule-Dental Subscale (CFSS-DS) and the Venham clinical anxiety scale (VCAS). The behavior was assessed using the Frankl’s Behavior Rating Scale (FBRS). The intervention group showed significantly lower anxiety and more cooperative behavior during treatment than the control group (p < 0.0001). The intervention group showed a significant decrease in anxiety scores and more cooperative behavior across time according to the CFSS-DS (p = 0.001) and Frankl behavior scale OR = 3.22, 95% CI 1.18–8.76. Multivariate models found that using the storybook was a significant independent factor in reducing anxiety and improving behavior after controlling for sex, previous visits, family income, and mother’s education. In conclusion, the dental storybook can decrease children’s dental anxiety and improve their behavior during dental treatment.
... Rather, there were direct effects of anxiety and depression symptom severity, diagnosis, age, and sex on different facets of social functioning. Differences in youth and parent perceptions of parenting behavior, and its impact on youth adjustment, are commonly reported in the clinical and developmental literatures (e.g., Bögels & van Melick, 2004;Collins, 1991;De Los Reyes et al., 2019). This is likewise the case for family accommodation (Lebowitz et al., 2015;Zilcha-Mano et al., 2020). ...
It is well established that anxiety can contribute to social functioning difficulties during childhood and adolescence. It is less clear which anxious youth are most likely to struggle socially, and what types of difficulties they are likely to experience, limiting the extent of identification and intervention efforts. In this study, we aim to improve specification of the linkages between youth anxiety severity and social functioning by examining several potential moderators of these associations. Specifically, we examine whether family accommodation of youth anxiety, in addition to youth age, sex, and the presence of a social anxiety disorder diagnosis, influence associations between anxiety severity and social functioning among youth with anxiety disorders. Youth (N = 158, Mage = 9.99 years, SD = 2.74) and their mothers completed diagnostic interviews and questionnaires assessing anxiety and depression symptoms, family accommodation, and a range of social functioning variables. In a series of hierarchical linear regressions, we found that youth anxiety severity was most strongly associated with social impairment at high levels of family accommodation for adolescents and for youth without social anxiety disorder (mother-report). We also found several direct effects of anxiety severity, family accommodation, and youth age, sex, and diagnosis on different facets of youth social functioning (youth- and/or mother-report). We discuss clinical implications and future research directions focused on specifying the nature of associations between youth anxiety and their social functioning.
... combined measure of all four parenting style reports. We therefore use only the latter in our analysis, which is also in line with suggestions in previous research (e.g., Bögels and van Melick, 2004). 4. In addition, we report the within-twin pair correlations for all measures included in our analysis in the last column of Table 1. ...
Many theories in the social sciences assume that parenting affects child development. Previous research mostly supports the notion that parenting affects the skill development of children in early childhood. There are fewer studies testing whether parenting in early adolescence has such an influence. We estimate the effects of parenting on early adolescents’ noncognitive skills using data from the German Twin Family Panel (TwinLife). Specifically, we look at the effects of parenting styles, parental activities, and extracurricular activities on the academic self-concept, motivation, self-esteem, self-efficacy, and locus of control of 10 to 14 years old children. To control for unobserved heterogeneity and reverse causality, we employ twin fixed-effects models combined with longitudinal information. In addition, MZ twin fixed effects models also control for genetic confounding. Our findings provide no support to the notion that parenting styles, parental activities, and extracurricular activities in early adolescence affect the development of children's noncognitive skills. We conclude that our results, in combination with the majority of evidence from previous research, are in line with a model according to which parenting has larger effects on the skill development of children in early childhood than in early adolescence.
... Future study should incorporate parent informants and observational methods of parenting behavior. In addition, reports of paternal parenting would be important to obtain, given that mothers and fathers may differ in parenting behaviors [80,81]. ...
Studies have linked childhood anxiety and depression with parenting characterized by high control and low warmth. However, few studies have examined how control and warmth may work together to influence internalizing symptoms in children. Therefore, the goal of this study was to examine the moderating effect of warmth on the relationship between overcontrol and anxiety and depressive symptoms, as well as whether negative thoughts serve as a mediator of these pathways. A total of 182 fourth and fifth grade children completed measures of maternal parenting behavior, negative thoughts, and anxiety and depressive symptoms. Results showed an interaction between overcontrol and warmth for depressive but not anxiety symptoms. Furthermore, low warmth increased the strength of the mediating relationship between overcontrol and depression via thoughts of personal failure. Findings may signal a need for early interventions to address parenting behaviors, such as controlling behaviors, in parents of children at risk for internalizing difficulties.
... (As per the Special Issue, we use "child" to refer to children and adolescents.) Research consistently shows a significant association between parent anxiety and child anxiety (e.g., Blossom et al., 2013;Bögels & van Melick, 2004;Silverman et al., 1988). ...
Background
We leveraged a recent efficacy trial to investigate directionality between parent anxiety and child anxiety at posttreatment and 12-month follow-up, and the potential role of parent psychological control as a mediator. We also explored child age and sex as moderators.
Method
Two-hundred and fifty-four children were randomized to individual cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or to one of two CBT arms with parent involvement. Parent anxiety was not a treatment target in any of the three arms.
Results
Child anxiety at posttreatment was associated with parent anxiety and psychological control at 12-month follow-up, providing evidence of child-to-parent directionality. Parent anxiety at posttreatment was associated indirectly with child anxiety at 12-month follow-up through associations with parent psychological control, providing evidence of parent-to-child directionality. At posttreatment, parent psychological control contemporaneously mediated the relation between parent and child anxiety. Neither child age nor sex moderated any association.
Conclusions
Findings highlight the directional effects between child anxiety, parent anxiety, and psychological control from posttreatment to 12-month follow-up, even when parent anxiety is not a treatment target. Research and clinical implications are discussed, with an emphasis on enhancing durability following treatment effects.
... Finally, anxiety in parents is associated with broader family climate factors. Families with anxious parents display lower levels of warmth, acceptance, and engagement towards offspring (Woodruff-Borden et al., 2002) and higher levels of parental psychological control toward youth (Bögels & van Melick, 2004). These general family climate factors have in turn been associated with increased youth anxiety (McLeod et al., 2007;Wei & Kendall, 2014). ...
Anxiety disorders are the most common and impairing mental health problems across the lifespan. Familial factors are strongly implicated in the onset and maintenance of anxiety, but available evidence-based treatments are usually individual-focused. The aim of this review was to evaluate the current evidence base (2010–2019) of family based interventions addressing youth and adult anxiety and highlight findings comparing family based and individual-focused treatments. A systematic literature search was conducted. Articles were considered if they targeted primarily anxiety-related issues and utilized a randomized controlled trial design, resulting in 22 included youth studies. No adult studies met criteria for inclusion. Overall, family based treatments performed better than no-treatment controls and as well as individual-based interventions, with some evidence that family based interventions might outperform individual-based ones in certain populations (i.e., autism). Family based interventions may represent a good alternative for anxiety treatment in youth. Additional research on family based treatment for anxiety is adults is needed.
... Currently, mindful parenting interventions have been widely used in varied population groups (e.g., parents of youth with mental disorders, parents of children with developmental disorders or chronic illnesses, community recruited parents), but the efficacy of such interventions on parenting stress, psychological outcomes ( Altmaier and Maloney, 2007 ;Eames et al., 2015 ;Potharst et al., 2018 ;Potharst et al., 2019 ), child emotional and behavioural problems ( Bögels et al., 2008 ;Bögels and Melick, 2004 ;van de Weijer-Bergsma et al., 2012 ;de Bruin et al., 2015 ;Jones et al., 2018 ), parent-child, and parent-spouse relationships ( Coatsworth et al., 2010 ;Potharst et al., 2018 ) are mixed. Therefore, a systematic review is necessary to consolidate existing evidence on various mindful parenting interventions. ...
Background
Mindful parenting is the process of bringing awareness and attention intentionally in a non-reactive and non-judgemental way to a child at any present moment. Parenting mindfulness is believed to influence parenting factors and parental psychological outcomes, child's emotional and behavioural outcomes, and family relationships. However, the efficacy of such interventions on interpersonal mindfulness in parenting and parenting behaviours has received minimal empirical attention.
Objective
This meta-analysis aims to quantitatively evaluate the efficacy of mindful parenting interventions on parenting mindfulness and parenting behaviours. Parenting stress, parents’ psychological wellbeing, interpersonal relationships, and child behavioural outcomes were examined secondarily. When meta-analysis was not possible (due to insufficient data in the included studies), the narrative approach was taken to present the findings.
Design
A systematic review, meta-analysis, and narrative summary.
Methods
Six electronic databases (PubMed, Embase, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Scopus, and ProQuest Dissertations and Theses) were systematically searched for articles in the English language from their respective dates of inception to December 2020. Studies involving clinical and non-clinical samples of parents with children or youths aged 24 years and below were included. Only randomised controlled trials were included. Studies were excluded if the mindfulness intervention did not focus on parenting skills training; that is, it focused on childbirth, stress reduction or incorporated other forms of therapy (e.g. cognitive behavioural therapy). Data was synthesised using a random-effects model in RevMan 5.4. The outcomes of primary interest were parenting mindfulness and parenting behaviours. The secondary outcomes were parenting stress, parents’ psychological wellbeing, interpersonal relationships, and child behavioural outcomes.
Results
Eleven studies representing 1,340 parents from six countries were included in the review. No evidence of intervention effect was found for overall parenting mindfulness and overall parenting stress. However, mindful parenting interventions demonstrated a moderate effect size when examining parenting mindfulness scores (standardised mean differences (d)=0.62, 95% CI: 0.11, 1.13, p=0.02) of parents with non-clinical samples of children. No intervention effect was found for overall parenting stress. Due to insufficient studies and data, findings on parenting behaviours, psychological wellbeing, relationships, and child behaviour were presented narratively.
Conclusion
Mindful parenting interventions are associated with higher parenting mindfulness scores for parents of typically developing children when compared with a control group. The limited studies and mixed results on positive parenting behaviours, parental psychological wellbeing, parental relationship with child and partner, and child behavioural outcomes serve as an impetus for further research.
... Anxiety tends to run in families, with the overwhelming majority of anxious children and adolescents likely to have a parent with an anxiety disorder themselves (Ginsburg, Silverman, & Kurtines, 1995;Ginsburg & Schlossberg, 2002;Rapee, 2001). Beyond shared genetic vulnerability, anxious parents may inadvertently create home environments that foster and maintain child anxiety by modeling maladaptive cognitive coping styles (Lester, Field, & Cartwright-Hatton, 2012;Lester, Field, Oliver, & Cartwright-Hatton, 2009) and by using parenting strategies that limit exploration, learning, and a sense of mastery over new challenge (Bögels & van Melick, 2004;Hudson & Rapee, 2001;Wood et al., 2003). While such strategies may be of little consequence for low anxiety/highly independent youth, they may prove more problematic for those prone to fear and worry. ...
... Although our analyses were correlational in nature, and we cannot determine why shyness is associated with greater reactivity over time, we speculate that this may be due to environmental experiences that shy children may be more susceptible to encountering. For example, shyness has been associated with parenting characterized by lack of encouragement of children's independence and high levels of overprotectiveness (Bögels & van Melick, 2004;Rubin et al., 1999). These parenting practices may lead to lower levels of social competence and lack of autonomy and may lead to higher levels of reactivity over time. ...
The reactivity-regulation model suggests that the origins and maintenance of shyness results from relatively high levels of reactivity in combination with relatively low levels of regulation. Although this model has received some empirical support, there are still issues regarding directionality of the relations among variables and a dearth of studies examining the joint influence of reactivity and regulation on the prospective development of shyness. Using a longitudinal design, we first examined whether the relations among reactivity, regulation, and shyness were unidirectional or bidirectional in a sample of 1284 children (49.8% female, 84.1% White; mean parental education fell between associate degree/diploma and undergraduate degree) assessed annually across three waves from late childhood and early adolescence (Mage = 10.72 years) to adolescence (Mage = 12.42 years) and then examined whether reactivity and regulation interacted to influence the development of shyness over time. At Wave 1, shyness was related to higher levels of reactivity and lower levels of regulation at Wave 2, but neither reactivity nor regulation at Wave 1 predicted shyness at Wave 2. At Wave 2, shyness predicted greater reactivity at Wave 3, but shyness at Wave 3 was only predicted by lower levels of regulation at Wave 2. Contrary to the reactivity-regulation model of shyness, we found that relatively high levels of reactivity and low levels of regulation predicted a steep decrease in shyness over 3 years. These results are discussed in the context of the socioemotional difficulties experienced by shy individuals and demonstrate the importance of empirically evaluating long-standing models of personality development. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
... Anxiety tends to run in families, with the overwhelming majority of anxious children and adolescents likely to have a parent with an anxiety disorder themselves (Ginsburg, Silverman, & Kurtines, 1995;Ginsburg & Schlossberg, 2002;Rapee, 2001). Beyond shared genetic vulnerability, anxious parents may inadvertently create home environments that foster and maintain child anxiety by modeling maladaptive cognitive coping styles (Lester, Field, & Cartwright-Hatton, 2012;Lester, Field, Oliver, & Cartwright-Hatton, 2009) and by using parenting strategies that limit exploration, learning, and a sense of mastery over new challenge (Bögels & van Melick, 2004;Hudson & Rapee, 2001;Wood et al., 2003). While such strategies may be of little consequence for low anxiety/highly independent youth, they may prove more problematic for those prone to fear and worry. ...
Parent- and family-level correlates of youth anxiety are well-documented, and they highlight potential targets for family-focused intervention. Although family-based approaches for treating youth anxiety generally are considered efficacious for achieving symptom reduction, they vary in format and approach and it remains unclear whether they offer an advantage over individual child treatment. To better understand the current state of the evidence, we used meta-analytic methods to examine the therapeutic approaches described in existing family interventions for child and adolescent anxiety, whether they mapped to the major mechanisms proposed in the literature, and the timeline along which relevant parent/family variables were measured. We examined how these mechanism-focused family interventions performed in RCTs relative to individual child CBT and whether they shifted symptoms and relevant parenting behaviors. A total of 11 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) compared individual cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) to CBT+ a family component (CBT + FAM) and included a youth anxiety measure at pre- and post-treatment; only half of these (n=6) also included a parent/family functioning measure at both pre- and post-treatment (across both primary and secondary outcome papers). Only a single study included anxiety measures at a mid-treatment time point, and none included parent measures at a mid-treatment time point. Findings are discussed in terms of design considerations and advancing the field of family intervention for youth anxiety.
... Correlational analyses indicated that only adolescents' report of autonomy support was directly and positively associated with their level of glycemic control. This finding is not surprising given the numerous studies which have found parent-child discrepancies in reports of parental behavior [40,41]. These studies also suggest that adolescents' reports tend to be more closely related to outcomes than parents' reports. ...
Purpose
To examine the relationships between autonomy support provided to adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes by their parents, and adolescents' competence, adherence to treatment, and glycemic control indicators.
Method
Thirty-seven adolescents, along with one of their parents, completed a set of questionnaires on the level of autonomy support provided by their parents. Adolescents' self-treatment competence and their level of adherence to treatment were also measured. A recent blood test assessing the adolescents' 3-month average glycemic level (HbA1c) was retrieved from their medical records as a glycemic control indicator.
Results
Structural Equation Modeling suggested that parental autonomy support as reported by parents and adolescents was associated with higher adolescent self-treatment competence and higher adherence to treatment. These in turn were associated with better glycemic control.
Conclusion
Parental autonomy support is crucial and may contribute to the competence, adherence, and physical wellbeing of adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes. Parents should be instructed on ways to better support autonomy but still be involved in their child's life.
... If we look into the Indian context usually parents and children share a hierarchical relation whereas in western culture children have a friend-like relationship with parents. (Bögels, S. M., & van Melick, M., 2004). In India and Japan, mothers co-sleep with the child and respond to every need of the child. ...
Child-rearing is an individualist, social and cultural process. This paper proposes that Child-Rearing has invariable characteristics and huge diversity. It has been considered that cultural perspective may contribute to the understanding of such multiple forms of child-rearing. The present paper provides an analytical account of dominant factors of child-rearing and caring. The factors selection is done by reviewing the articles which have either more than 50 Google scholar citations or are indexed in top-class journals. It also aims to ascertain whether or not Indian child-rearing intrinsically has something different in its practices and which child-rearing patterns are global and common among all the countries. This article took majorly dominating factors in the area of child-rearing and provided a qualitative comparative account of India especially in relation to the world. Some factors are individualistic as parental attitude and the parent-child relationship. But the study found that corporal punishments, socialization and cultural factors have a strong impact on child-rearing. Altogether these factors affect the cognitive skills of children. The study will give a critical overview of child-rearing patterns in India and across the globe, which would be helpful for policymakers to create new policies and act accordingly.
Background
Both maternal and paternal postnatal depression (PND) are associated with increased risk of less optimal offspring developmental outcomes. Early exposure to differences in maternal and paternal vocalisation behaviours associated with maternal and paternal PND may be important in this relationship. However, little research has captured vocalisation patterns at home without researchers present.
Objectives
This study sought to examine the associations between maternal and paternal PND and various aspects of parental vocalisation behaviours.
Methods
Mothers ( n = 104) and fathers ( n = 34) of six-months old infants from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children Generation-2 (ALSPAC-G2) provided video footage of mother- and father-infant interactions filmed at home using the head-worn video cameras (headcams) without the need for researchers to be present. Twenty-five mother-infant and father-infant interactions were coded on multiple aspects of parental and infant vocalisation behaviours using the micro-behavioural observational coding system. Parental (PND) was measured using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS; total score).
Results
Frequencies and duration of vocalisation behaviours were similar in mothers and fathers. However, there was an indication that fathers demonstrated higher frequency and duration of commands, exclamations and ironic/sarcastic tone, and criticisms compared to mothers, while mothers engaged in more teaching compared to fathers. Linear regression models indicated that maternal and paternal PND were not associated with the majority of vocalisation behaviours. However, there were some specific patterns observed, mostly related to the emotional tone of the vocalisations. Higher levels of maternal PND were associated with lower frequency of speech in a neutral tone, frequency and duration of use of humour, and increased duration of speech in a positive tone. Higher levels of paternal PND were associated with higher mean duration of speech, infant-directed speech, higher frequency and duration of laughing, and increased duration of speech using questions and encouragement.
Conclusion
These findings extend existing research by investigating the associations between maternal and paternal PND and a wide range of vocalisation behaviours captured and coded using innovative methods and in a more ecologically valid way than previous studies.
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a leading mental health concern during pregnancy and the postpartum (perinatal) period. People with GAD engage in problematic behaviors to manage their distress. However, the extent of GAD behaviors during the perinatal period may not be adequately captured by the Worry Behaviors Inventory (WBI), the most comprehensive measure of GAD behaviors to date. We evaluated the structure of the initial WBI item-pool and then evaluated the internal consistency, construct validity, and predictive utility of the Perinatal Revised WBI (WBI-PR) in a sample of 214 perinatal women with and without GAD. A two-factor, 10-item scale was supported, and some of the retained items differed from the original WBI. Internal consistency of the WBI-PR was acceptable, and evidence of construct validity was demonstrated. The WBI-PR predicted GAD diagnostic status both alone and beyond existing generalized anxiety and depression symptoms. Implications of these findings are discussed.
Aim: Correlating parenting style with their children’s behavior, dental anxiety and dental caries during the first dental visit. Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted. Self-administered structured questionnaire (PSDQ) contains 32 statements regarding different parent reactions to child behavior, and participants rated responses to each item using a five-point likert scale from “never” to “always” (coded 1 to 5).The target population consisted of 105 children with their parents in Faculty of Dentistry, Future University aged 3-6 years old. The highest mean score placed the parent in the proper parenting category. The child behavior was assessed using the Frankl scale and caries status was assessed using the dental caries (dmf) index. Results: At the first dental visit, the highest dmf scores were found with the permissive parenting (4.08 ± 1.61) followed by the authoritarian (3.94 ± 1.20) while the lowest scores were found with the authoritative style (2.26 ± 1.31) which mean that was a significant difference in the values of dmf scores for different parenting styles in first dental visit Conclusion: Children’s born in authoritative parenting home showed less caries and more positive behavior against dental treatment during first dental visit.
Employing existing adolescent-report measures of perceptions of parenting corresponding to autonomy granting as the promotion of independence (PI), the promotion of volitional functioning (PVF), and psychological control, we observed, amongst 97 adolescents, aged 13–17 years, that perceptions of maternal and paternal PVF were significantly negatively associated with both anxiety and depression, whereas PI was significantly associated with only anxiety (and not depression) for only perceptions of maternal (and not paternal) parenting. Perceptions of both maternal and paternal PVF accounted for unique variance in anxiety beyond that accounted for by PI; only perceptions of maternal (not paternal) PVF accounted for unique variance in depression. Perceptions of maternal and paternal controlling parenting accounted for unique variance in depression but not anxiety, suggesting that adolescent anxiety might be more strongly related to perceived parental PVF and adolescent depression to perceived psychological control. Finally, parenting correlates of PVF, PI, and psychological control differed for mothers and fathers of adolescents.
Studies investigating services for families experiencing complex and multiple problems have emphasized the need for more child‐centred support. The aim of this longitudinal study was to investigate whether providing child‐centred services (Child and Youth Coaching) combined with family‐focused services (Ten for the Future) is effective for children growing up in families experiencing complex and multiple problems. Children's psychosocial skills, emotional and behavioural problems, and the quality of their pedagogical environment were measured at baseline, 6 months and 12 months. Parent and coach reports of children indicated for Child and Youth Coaching (n = 57) and nonindicated children (n = 18) were analysed using repeated measures multilevel models. Both parents and coaches reported improved psychosocial skills of children, but changes were only significant for coach reports. In both reports, no significant decrease in emotional and behavioural problems was observed for both indicated and nonindicated children. Many children still experienced considerable problems at case closure. Furthermore, no significant improvement in quality of the pedagogical environment was observed in both groups. Given the limitations in this study, more research is needed to identify whether these findings can be replicated and attributed to the Child and Youth Coaching and Ten for the Future programmes.
Background
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is a major stressor that has been associated with increased risk for psychiatric illness in the general population. Recent work has highlighted that experiences of early-life stress (ELS) may impact individuals’ psychological functioning and vulnerability for developing internalizing psychopathology in response to pandemic-related stress. However, little is known about the neurobehavioral factors that may mediate the association between ELS exposure and COVID-related internalizing symptomatology. The current study sought to examine the mediating roles of pre-pandemic resting-state frontoamygdala connectivity and concurrent emotion regulation (ER) in the association between ELS and pandemic-related internalizing symptomatology.
Methods
Retrospective life-stress histories, concurrent self-reported ER strategies (i.e., reappraisal and suppression), concurrent self-reported internalizing symptomatology (i.e., depression- and anxiety-related symptomatology), and resting-state functional connectivity data from a sample of adults (N = 64, Mage = 22.12, female = 68.75%) were utilized.
Results
There were no significant direct associations between ELS and COVID-related internalizing symptomatology. Neither frontoamygdala functional connectivity nor ER strategy use mediated an association between ELS and COVID-related internalizing symptomatology (ps > 0.05). Exploratory analyses identified a significant moderating effect of reappraisal use on the association between ELS and internalizing symptomatology (β = -0.818, p = 0.047), such that increased reappraisal use buffered the impact of ELS on psychopathology.
Conclusions
While frontoamygdala connectivity and ER do not appear to mediate the association between ELS and COVID-related internalizing symptomatology, our findings suggest that the use of reappraisal may buffer against the effect of ELS on mental health during the pandemic.
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is one of the most common anxiety disorders in pregnancy and the postpartum (perinatal) period. Perinatal women with GAD engage in problematic behaviours, yet the focus and function of these behaviours remain unknown.
Objective:
Given that worry during the perinatal period is largely maternally focused, the objective of this study was to explore the accompanying behavioural features of GAD during pregnancy and the postpartum period.
Design:
A qualitative study was conducted.
Methods:
Twenty-five pregnant (n = 10) and postpartum (n = 15) women were recruited through clinical referrals and the Hamilton community. Following the completion of a semistructured diagnostic interview and symptom measures, participants participated in one of seven focus groups to learn about behaviours utilized in response to their worries. A thematic analysis was conducted to identify behaviour themes and subthemes in pregnant and postpartum women.
Results:
Five behaviour themes and 12 subthemes were identified. Specifically, participants endorsed engaging in excessive reassurance seeking, checking and repeating, overcontrol, overpreparation and avoidance behaviours.
Conclusions:
Our results confirm that perinatal women with GAD engage in comparable problematic behaviours to those with GAD in the general population, yet the presentation, frequency and focus of those behaviours differ. These findings have implications for theoretical formulations of GAD, and the clinical management of this disorder during the perinatal period.
Parenting adolescents requires parents to display diverse competencies, and parenting competence i.e. «caregiving» may be affected differentially by the underlying dimensions of an individual's «care seeking» behaviour, i.e. their own attachment style. Twenty five mothers of adolescent daughters were recruited in a cross-sectional design for this pilot study. Mothers aged between 32-51 years with a mean (± SD) age of 44.72 (± 5.47) years and each completed the Parenting Role Interview, which provides an «investigator-based» as-sessment of their parenting competence, as well as self-report measures of attachment style, stress, depression and well-being. Results revealed that greater parenting competence was associated with higher levels of the specific attachment construct of proximity-seeking, but not attachment security. In addition, worse maternal psychological health was associated with attachment insecurity, but not proximity-seeking. The underlying attachment dimension of proximity-seeking may hold particular significance for mothers of adolescent daughters and may be a viable resilience target for parenting interventions.
Rationale
Previous cross-sectional and unidirectional longitudinal studies have investigated the associations among perceived parental warmth, positivity, and depressive symptoms among children and adolescents without distinguishing between-person effects from within-person effects.
Objective
The current study aimed to examine the dynamic longitudinal associations among perceived parental warmth, positivity, and depressive symptoms, including whether positivity functioned as a mediator of the reciprocal relations between perceived maternal/paternal warmth and depressive symptoms at the within-person level encompassing middle childhood to early adolescence.
Methods
A sample of 3765 Chinese students (45.8% girls; M age = 9.92 years, SD = 0.72; range = 9–12 years at Time 1) completed self-report measures on 4 occasions across 2 years, using 6-month intervals. Random-Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Models were employed to disentangle between- and within-person effects.
Results
(a) Perceived maternal/paternal warmth and depressive symptoms reciprocally and negatively predicted each other; (b) positivity and depressive symptoms reciprocally and negatively predicted each other; (c) perceived maternal/paternal warmth and positivity reciprocally and positively predicted each other; (d) depressive symptoms indirectly predicted perceived maternal/paternal warmth via positivity; (e) perceived maternal warmth displayed earlier and more stable effects on positivity and depressive symptoms than perceived paternal warmth; and (f), no childhood sex differences existed in the observed associations.
Conclusions
These findings highlight the longitudinal within-person transactions among perceived parental warmth, positivity, and depressive symptoms, and the differential roles of perceived maternal/paternal warmth. These findings may help provide a potential theoretical framework through which to precisely identify objectives for early intervention.
Parental verbal threat (vs. safety) information regarding the social world may impact a child's fear responses, evident in subjective, behavioral, cognitive, and physiological indices of fear. In this study, primary caregivers provided standardized verbal threat or safety information to their child (N = 68, M = 5.27 years; 34 girls) regarding two strangers in the lab. Following this manipulation, children reported fear beliefs for each stranger. Physiological and behavioral reactions were recorded as children engaged with the two strangers (who were blind to their characterization) in a social interaction task. Child attention to the strangers was measured in a visual search task. Parents also reported their own, and their child's, social anxiety symptoms. Children reported more fear for the stranger paired with threat information, but no significant differences were found in observed child fear, attention, or heart rate. Higher social anxiety symptoms on the side of the parents and the children exacerbated the effect of parental verbal threat on observed fear. Our findings reveal a causal influence of parental verbal threat information only for child‐reported fear and highlight the need to further refine the conditions under which acquired fear beliefs persist and generalize to behavior/physiology or get overruled by nonaversive real‐life encounters.
Past research has demonstrated associations between parental personality traits and children's behaviour. However, fathers have been largely excluded from this research, and mothers often rate both their own personality and their child's behaviour, contributing to shared method variance. This study contributes to the literature by examining associations between parental biologically based affective personality traits, analysed separately for mothers and fathers, and seven‐ and eight‐year‐old children's self‐reported internalising and externalising behaviours. Data were analysed for 272 mother‐child dyads and 208 father‐child dyads. A series of multiple linear regressions was utilised to test associations between mothers’ and fathers’ traits of ANGER, SADNESS, FEAR, PLAY, SEEKING and CARE, assessed using the Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales (ANPS), and children's self‐reported internalising and externalising behaviours, assessed using the Berkeley Puppet Interview. Results revealed that higher ANPS ANGER scores amongst mothers were associated with more externalising behaviours in boys. Mothers with higher scores on SEEKING had sons with lower scores on externalising behaviours, while mothers with higher PLAY scores had sons with lower scores on internalising behaviours. Fathers with higher ANPS SADNESS scores had children with greater internalising behaviours, while fathers with greater FEAR traits had children with lower internalising behaviours. Indirect associations through harsh or positive parenting were not significant. Findings demonstrated that ANPS traits of ANGER, PLAY and SEEKING for mothers and FEAR and SADNESS for fathers are associated with children's self‐reported externalising and internalising behaviours. This study adds to the literature on biologically based parental affective personality and children's internalising and externalising behaviours.
Background
: Theoretical and empirical evidence suggests that maternal anxiety relates to overprotection, yet studies have found conflicting evidence. The literature would benefit from a systematic review.
Methods
: In April 2020, a systematic review on the relation between maternal anxiety and overprotection was conducted. The search was updated in January 2021. A total of 13 articles were included.
Results
: Of 16 reported bivariate correlations, 12 showed that maternal anxiety accounted for significant variance in overprotection (7 reported a small effect and 5 reported a medium effect). In a group differences study, mothers with anxiety showed greater overprotection. Additionally, in 4 out of 7 multivariate relations maternal anxiety accounted for significant variance in overprotection over and above other factors while 3 suggested that maternal anxiety did not account for significant variance in overprotection. In a multivariate, longitudinal study, maternal anxiety predicted overprotection, over and above other factors. Given conflicting evidence, we evaluated article's methodological strength and found stronger evidence supporting a small to medium size relation compared to evidence supporting no significant relation.
Limitations
: We report ranges of coefficients and effect sizes, but meta-analytic results are needed to determine the magnitude of these relations based on various factors. More longitudinal studies are needed to determine directionality.
Conclusions
: Although the literature shows conflicting results, the present review supports that maternal anxiety relates to overprotection, though the effect of this relation is small to medium. It may be beneficial to incorporate mental health for parents into existing parenting interventions.
The present meta-analysis comprehensively investigated the relationships between specific psychological control in parenting and depression and anxiety related to internalized problems in children through 95 studies. Based on the finding that parents’ psychological control as perceived by children is more related to children’s psychological adjustment than parents’ actual psychological control in the case of children and adolescents, the present study investigated only children’s perception of parental psychological control for children and adolescents aged 10 to 20 years. The results showed a moderate degree of relationship between perceived parental psychological control and depression and anxiety in children. Moderating effects of sampling, culture (individualism vs collectivism), parent gender, child gender, child age, and publication status were identified. Implications for future research and practice are discussed
The present meta-analysis integrates the results of studies on associations of parenting styles with moral reasoning. The systematic search in electronic databases identified 23 studies that were included in this random-effects meta-analysis. We found a statistically significant, but small positive, concurrent association of authoritative parenting with higher moral reasoning, while the reverse was found for authoritarian parenting. No significant associations were found for permissive parenting, and numbers of studies were too small for identifying significant associations of neglectful parenting with moral reasoning, as well as cross-lagged effects of parenting styles on longitudinal change in moral reasoning. The size of the associations varied, in part, by publication status, educational status, and quality of assessing moral reasoning. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.
Psychological Control (PC) interferes with autonomy-related processes in adolescence and has a negative impact on adolescents’ development related to internalizing and externalizing problems. Several scholars suggested that PC can be used differently by mothers and fathers. However, these differences are still understudied and mainly grounded on maternal and/or adolescents’ perspectives, leading to potentially incomplete inferences on the effects of PC. The present study extends previous research on PC in two directions. First, we tested the dyadic and cumulative effects of maternal and paternal PC on adolescents’ antisocial behaviors and anxious-depressive symptoms. Secondly, we explored the cross-cultural generalizability of these associations in three countries: Italy, Colombia, and USA. Participants included 376 families with data from three consecutive years (T1, adolescents’ age = 13.70). Mothers’ and fathers’ reports of PC and youth’s reports of antisocial and internalizing behaviors were assessed. Using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) we found that maternal PC predicted adolescents’ reported antisocial behaviors whereas paternal PC predicted lower anxious-depressed symptoms. Comparisons across countries evidenced the cross-cultural invariance of the longitudinal APIM across Italy, Colombia, and USA. The practical implications of these results are discussed.
This study was designed to examine that to what extent parent communication apprehension and family communication orientation foresee the level of communication apprehension in children and also the differentiation of communication apprehension of children according to their family types. According to the family communication patterns approach, there are two socialization mechanisms: conversation orientation and conformity orientation. The dialogue orientation emphasizes the degree to which families create a climate in which all family members are encouraged to participate in unlimited interactions on a wide variety of issues, while the adaptation orientation emphasizes the climate of homogeneity of attitudes, values and beliefs in family communication. The research was conducted with 712 participants from 178 families in 2018-2019. The SPSS package program was used in the analysis of the data, and linear regression analysis was applied by taking the variables of dialogue orientation, adaptation orientation, father communication anxiety and mother communication anxiety as predictors of communication anxiety. As a result of the analysis, it was concluded that the variables of conversation orientation, conformity orientation, father communication apprehension explained 15% of the variance, and that there was a significant difference in communication apprehension level among family types.
Background
Most children exposed to father-perpetrated domestic violence (DV) continue to have contact or live with fathers, yet there is little research on the impact of fathering in the context of domestic violence.
Objective
This paper aimed to identify pathways from children’s exposure to father-perpetrated DV to compromised social-emotional outcomes. Based on extant literature on fathering and domestic violence, psychological, parenting, and coparenting features in DV fathers were identified as potential mediators of the relationship between child exposure to DV and their social-emotional outcomes.
Participants and Setting
Participants were 123 fathers with confirmed histories of DV perpetration and 101 comparison fathers without such histories.
Methods
Fathers completed self-report measures during two assessment sessions held at the university. Simple mediation analyses were used to examine pathways between fathers’ DV perpetration and child internalizing and externalizing difficulties through potential mediators.
Results
Paternal depression, hostility, and coparenting difficulties significantly mediated the relationship between child exposure to DV and child internalizing and externalizing difficulties. Low paternal warmth was associated with child externalizing difficulties but did not function as a mediator. Paternal over-reactivity and laxness, in contrast, were not significantly correlated with DV perpetration or with child internalizing or externalizing outcomes.
Conclusions
This study suggests that fathers’ emotion regulation and coparenting difficulties are important correlates of his DV perpetration and of their children’s psychological symptoms and should be considered as potential foci for parenting intervention with this population.
Based on central assumptions of the social support literature and on formulations concerning the construction of competence and consequence expectancies, a model for the interaction of maternal and paternal child-rearing behavior in the development of children's trait anxiety is presented. Hypotheses concerning this model are tested empirically; 160 boys and 169 girls (aged 12–14 years) responded to the “Erziehungsstil-Inventar” (“Child-Rearing Inventory”), which serves as a measure of child-rearing styles as perceived by the child, as well as to a German adaptation of the “State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children”. General relations between the variables were analyzed by means of product-moment correlations, whereas moderator effects, specifically, were subjected to analyses of variance. Trait anxiety was mainly associated with parental inconsistency. Predicted interactions of maternal and paternal child-rearing behavior could be partly confirmed.
The relationship between family interaction and children's test and trait anxiety was studied among 152 parent couples, and their children (aged 11-12 years). The results reveal a relationship between children's test and trait anxiety and the following patterns of perceived family interaction: communication, encouragement of personal growth, and system maintenance. Discrepancies between family members' perceptions (father and mother, father and child) were also found. Anxiety levels were linked more to children's perceptions of family variables than to parents' reports. Children's scores for four of the five family variables were lower than those of their parents.
Generalizability Theory (GT) provides a flexible, practical framework for examining the dependability of behavioral measurements. GT extends classical theory by (a) estimating the magnitude of multiple sources of measurement error, (b) modeling the use of a measurement for both norm-referenced and domain-referenced decisions, (c) providing reliability (
generalizability) coefficients tailored to the proposed uses of the measurement, and (d) isolating major sources of error so that a cost-efficient measurement design can be built. Unfortunately, GT has not been readily accessible to psychological researchers. G theory's inaccessibility may explain why classical theory remains the preferred method for estimating reliability. The purpose of this article is to present GT and its wide applicability to a broad audience. Our intent is to demystify GT and provide a useful tool to psychological researchers and test developers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Argues that one solution to the problem of establishing replicable generalizations in psychological research lies in aggregating behavior over situations and/or occasions, thereby canceling out incidental, uncontrollable factors relative to experimental factors. Such a procedure increases reliability without introducing excessive constraints into the experimental situation. The value of such aggregation was demonstrated in 4 studies in Part I of this paper (Epstein, 1979) that examined a variety of data, including the subjective and objective measurement of behavior in the field and in the laboratory. Four kinds of aggregation are discussed, each of which reduces a specific source of error. The degree of aggregation that is required varies inversely with the degree to which the events studied are ego-involving, implicitly or explicitly include an adequate sample of behavioral observation, or have been demonstrated to be robust over incidental sources of variation. (58 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The first- and second-degree relatives of children with anxiety disorders were compared with relatives of children with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder and children who had never been psychiatrically ill for lifetime rates of psychopathological conditions, particularly anxiety disorders. Results from blind, diagnostic interviews indicated an increased prevalence of anxiety disorders in the first-degree relatives of children with anxiety disorder compared with relatives of both children with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder and never psychiatrically ill children. Relationships between specific anxiety disorders in children and their relatives revealed an increased rate of panic disorder among the first-degree relatives of children with over-anxious disorder, compared with the relatives of children with separation anxiety disorder and children with other types of anxiety disorders. There also was a trend for panic disorder to be more prevalent among relatives of children with panic disorder than among relatives of children with anxiety disorder without panic. Obsessive-compulsive disorder was the only other anxiety disorder that appeared to show a similar specific relationship between children and their relatives. In general, the findings from this study suggest that there is a familial component involved in the pathogenesis of childhood anxiety disorders. The specificity of this relationship varies among individual anxiety disorders.
This study explored psychosocial and "environmental" correlates of childhood anxiety disorders. The study examined relationships among parental psychiatric symptomatology, perceived family environment, temperament, and self-competence in children with a DSM-III-R anxiety disorder.
A community sample of third through sixth graders was screened initially for symptoms of test anxiety. Those with high and low scores were administered the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for Children. Three groups (childhood anxiety disorder, test-anxious only, and normal controls) were identified and compared on the psychosocial variables.
Children with an anxiety disorder had greater impairment on the indices of perceived self-competence and temperamental flexibility than controls, with the test-anxious children showing intermediate, yet significant, levels of disturbance. There was a trend for children with an anxiety disorder to describe their families as less promoting of independence than the other groups. Finally, measures of parental psychiatric symptomatology revealed more obsessive-compulsive symptoms for the fathers of both the anxiety disorder and test-anxious children compared with controls.
Results are consistent with previous findings suggesting the familial transmission of anxiety disorders and recent speculations regarding a relationship between behavioral inhibition, environmental control, and anxiety. Further research may isolate psychosocial and family environmental factors as instrumental treatment targets in the management of childhood anxiety disorders.
This paper reviews over a century's research into the developmental patterns of normal fear. Normal fear has been defined as a normal reaction to a real or imagined threat and is considered to be an integral and adaptive aspect of development with the primary function of promoting survival. Across a wide range of methodologies and assessment instruments researchers have been particularly focussed on investigating whether fear content, prevalence and intensity differ depending upon age, gender, socio-economic status, and culture. The structure and continuity of normal fears have also received much attention. The most consistently documented findings include that fear decreases in prevalence and intensity with age and that specific fears are transitory in nature. There are also predictable changes in the content of normal fear over the course of development. Such changes are characterized by a transition from infant fears which are related to immediate, concrete and prepotent stimuli, and which are largely non-cognitive, to fears of late childhood and adolescence which are related to anticipatory, abstract, and more global stimuli and events. Recent research into normal fear has more closely examined the validity of the more frequently used current assessment technique (i.e., the fear survey schedule). This research has provided some encouraging results as well as directions for future investigation.
• The first- and second-degree relatives of children with anxiety disorders were compared with relatives of children with attention deficit—hyperactivity disorder and children who had never been psychiatrically ill for lifetime rates of psychopathological conditions, particularly anxiety disorders. Results from blind, diagnostic interviews indicated an increased prevalence of anxiety disorders in the first-degree relatives of children with anxiety disorder compared with relatives of both children with attention deficit— hyperactivity disorder and never psychiatrically ill children. Relationships between specific anxiety disorders in children and their relatives revealed an increased rate of panic disorder among the first-degree relatives of children with overanxious disorder, compared with the relatives of children with separation anxiety disorder and children with other types of anxiety disorders. There also was a trend for panic disorder to be more prevalent among relatives of children with panic disorder than among relatives of children with anxiety disorder without panic. Obsessive-compulsive disorder was the only other anxiety disorder that appeared to show a similar specific relationship between children and their relatives. In general, the findings from this study suggest that there is a familial component involved in the pathogenesis of childhood anxiety disorders. The specificity of this relationship varies among individual anxiety disorders.
"Construct validation was introduced in order to specify types of research required in developing tests for which the conventional views on validation are inappropriate. Personality tests, and some tests of ability, are interpreted in terms of attributes for which there is no adequate criterion. This paper indicates what sorts of evidence can substantiate such an interpretation, and how such evidence is to be interpreted." 60 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).
This research studies parent-child agreement on parenting behaviors and mediators of agreement for 134 families. Results of the multitrait-multimethod analyses reveal a low degree of agreement between parents and children in reports of parental behaviors. Differential levels of agreement between father-child and mother-child reports suggest that reports of parental behaviors might be related to children's transition from preadolescence to early adolescence, family structure, and children's characteristics. The influence of these factors implies that the differences in reports between parents and children are not random and the practice of aggregating scores across reporters within the family to integrate data may not be justified.
Assessed differences between families with a child diagnosed with anxiety disorder and control families on self-report measures of parenting and independent observers' ratings of family interaction. Children rated their parents, and parents rated themselves on the parental variables of warmth/acceptance and psychological autonomy/control. Similar constructs were rated by independent observers of family interaction generated via a revealed differences discussion task. Parents of children with anxiety disorders were rated by observers as less granting of psychological autonomy than controls. In addition, children with anxiety disorders rated both their mothers and fathers as less accepting than control children rated their parents. Results are discussed in terms of socialization, family systems, and attachment theories regarding the tolerance and acceptance of different and/or negative emotions within families. The possible relation of family interaction styles to the internalizing disorders in childhood is explored.
The “two-process model” postulates that there are specific associations between patterns of parental child-rearing styles and the development of the child's anxiety and coping dispositions. Besides parameters of parental feedback to the child, this model considers support and restriction to be the central dimensions of child-rearing behavior. The present study aims at assessing behavioral indicators for restriction. For this purpose, the working and intervention behavior of 47 mothers and their ten- to 13-year-old children was observed and registered during a 15-minute period of common problem-solving (putting together a difficult puzzle-like cube). In order to register processes of problem-oriented cooperation between mother and child, transitional probabilities between defined state and event classes were analyzed. Based on the theoretical definition of the child-rearing style “restrictio”, hypotheses concerning the significance of variable transitional probabilities are formulated and tested regarding their correspondence with anxiety-related characteristics of the child.
This paper reviews over a century's research into the developmental patterns of normal fear. Normal fear has been defined as a normal reaction to a real or imagined threat and is considered to be an integral and adaptive aspect of development with the primary function of promoting survival. Across a wide range of methodologies and assessment instruments researchers have been particularly focussed on investigating whether fear content, prevalence and intensity differ depending upon age, gender, socio-economic status, and culture. The structure and continuity of normal fears have also received much attention. The most consistently documented findings include that fear decreases in prevalence and intensity with age and that specific fears are transitory in nature. There are also predictable changes in the content of normal fear over the course of development. Such changes are characterized by a transition from infant fears which are related to immediate, concrete and prepotent stimuli, and which are largely non-cognitive, to fears of late childhood and adolescence which are related to anticipatory, abstract, and more global stimuli and events. Recent research into normal fear has more closely examined the validity of the more frequently used current assessment technique (i.e., the fear survey schedule). This research has provided some encouraging results as well as directions for future investigation.
The present study investigated the relationship between parental rearing behaviours on the one hand and ‘psychopathology’ (i.e. fearfulness and problem behaviour) on the other hand in a group of clinically referred children. In order to examine this issue, children completed the child version of the EMBU (i.e. an inventory for assessing their parents' rearing practices) and the Fear Survey Schedule for Children (FSSC) (Ollendick, 1983). Parents filled in the parent version of the EMBU and the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) (Achenbach & Edelbrock, 1983). It was found that some subscales of both the parent and the child version of the EMBU were unreliable in terms of internal consistency. By means of a factor analytic procedure, two new EMBU scales were created: ‘positive rearing behaviour’ and ‘negative rearing behaviour’. Results further revealed a low degree of agreement between parents and children in reports of parental rearing behaviours. No association was found between parental rearing practices and fearfulness/internalizing problem behaviour. However, a positive relationship did emerge between negative rearing practices and externalizing problem behaviours. Finally, parental rearing behaviours in children with anxiety disorders were similar to those in clinically referred children who did not suffer from a severe type of psychopathology. Children with disruptive behaviour disorders, however, exhibited an aberrant pattern of rearing practices: in these children relatively more negative and less positive upbringing behaviours were observed.
This study assessed whether 3 forms of maternal views (recall of her own parental acceptance, the sense of self, and perceptions of the child) are related to each other and to mother–child interaction. The Mother–Father–Peer Scale was sent to mothers of infants aged 11–19 mo; 37 mothers were selected as extremes on the basis of the Acceptance subscale. Ss were observed in their homes using Ainsworth-type observations. The Maternal Sensitivity Scale, Dyadic Physical Avoidance Scale, and Dyadic Harmony Classification by M. D. Ainsworth et al (1978) were used. Mothers were sent questionnaires assessing the sense of self and perceptions of the child. There was 84% concordant classification between recall of parental acceptance and the observationally assessed dyadic harmony classification. Furthermore, mothers' recall of parental acceptance, perception of infant responsiveness, covert anxiety, and the observational measures showed intriguing relationships with each other. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Observed 42 4-6 yr. old girls and their parents interacting in a structured laboratory setting. The children participated in independence- and dependence-producing situations in an attempt to study the effects of children upon mothers and fathers. Results indicate that the children's behavior had an effect upon the parents, with mothers and fathers interacting more and being more controlling when the children were dependent. Further, the mothers and fathers reacted to their children with some similarities and some differences in behavior (e.g., mothers more often encouraged the children's efforts while fathers were more likely to help them with the task). In addition, although the children's behaviors showed general consistency with both parents, there were some differences with each parent. Results add further information about ways of understanding the complex process of socialization. (21 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Students' identity formation (i.e., ego identity status) and perceptions of parental acceptance and encouragement of independence were investigated as predictors of career indecision. The Mother-Father-Peer Scale (S. Epstein, 1983), the Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status (L. D. Bennion et al, 1986), and the Career Decision Scale (S. H. Osipow et al, 1976) were administered to 169 1st–4th year undergraduate students (mean age 19.68 yrs). Multiple regression analysis indicated that career indecision was predicted by a greater degree of identity moratorium and diffusion, less maternal acceptance, and fewer years in college. The finding that maternal but not paternal encouragement of independence was associated with less career indecision may be explained by the different perceptions Ss have of their mothers vs fathers; although Ss viewed their fathers as more encouraging of independence than their mothers, support by the mother may be particularly salient in decision making. Suggestions for future research and counseling applications are provided. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Modified the Children's Reports of Parental Behavior Inventory (CRPBI) as developed by E. S. Schaefer, to make the inventory suitable for use in cross-cultural research. The inventory was administered 6 mo. apart to 2 independent samples of college students (N = 294 and 398). 3 factors were obtained across samples, sex groups and parent-forms. The factors replicated were the same as in Schaefer's studies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This study compared responses on the 60-item version of the Family Assessment Device (FAD) obtained from mothers, fathers, and adolescents in two groups of families. The clinic group consisted of 94 families in which the adolescent had been referred to a mental health service in metropolitan Adelaide, South Australia. The community group consisted of 94 families, also containing an adolescent, living in the Adelaide community. Members of the clinic families consistently rated their families as less healthy than did families in the community. Importantly however, adolescents in both groups of families rated their families as significantly less healthy than their parents. Thus, while the results of the study provide support for the discriminative validity of the FAD, they also emphasize the need to consider separately self-reports on family functioning obtained from different members of the same family.
This study investigated the effects of heightened self-awareness (SAW) on various aspects of social anxiety. High and low socially anxious (SA) participants (N = 72) had a conversation with two confederates. SAW was manipulated with mirrors: half of the participants could see their reflection in three large mirrors during the conversation. In contrast with expectations, SAW did not increase fear, blushing, physiological arousal (skin conductance and facial coloration), and negative thinking, and did not interfere with task performance. Independent of the experimental manipulation, high SA persons displayed a generally higher level of facial coloration (blushing) than low SA persons. No evidence was found for the prediction that high SA persons overpredict their blushing and underpredict their social skills, compared to low SA persons.
Heightened levels of early separation anxiety (SA) have long been linked to the risk of adult panic disorder (PD), suggesting that the two types of anxiety arise from a common diathesis-a proposition that has considerably influenced the classification of the anxiety disorders. However, the SA-PD link remains contentious, with some recent studies failing to confirm that putative association. All published research studies investigating the relationship of early SA to PD and/or other anxiety disorders were reviewed. Taken as a whole, the evidence provides support for the SA-PD hypothesis, although the specificity of that relationship needs further clarification. Problems of sample selection, retrospective measurement of early SA and comorbid diagnoses limit the certainty with which inferences can be drawn from existing data. Nevertheless, a recent community-based study provides additional support for the SA-PD hypothesis. Possible developmental pathways linking SA to PD are considered. One possibility that has not received adequate research attention is that early SA disorder (SAD) may persist into adulthood, rendering the sufferer vulnerable to panic and other anxiety symptoms when confronted with salient life stressors. We conclude that it is premature to reject the SA hypothesis of PD. Only well-designed longitudinal studies can map the complex developmental pathways linking early and later manifestations of morbid anxiety.
This study compared children who met DSM-III-R criteria for social phobia (n = 29) and simple phobia (n = 38) on sociodemographic, diagnostic, and clinical variables in order to provide preliminary descriptive data on the disorders, and to determine whether there is empirical support for the DSM subtype distinction. Results indicated that both social and simple phobic children were referred for treatment services approximately three years following onset of their phobias, were equally likely to be male or female, and frequently had comorbid anxiety disorders. The two phobic groups differed, however, in that social phobic youngsters (a) were older at referral and had a later age of onset of their phobias, (b) reported higher levels of fearfulness, loneliness, and depression, and (c) were more likely to have comorbid avoidant and overanxious diagnoses, than children with simple phobias. The implications of these findings are discussed.
Subjects reported on how often 22 different bad things had happened to themselves and also completed a measure of dissociative experiences. The two sexes did not differ in their scores on either of the two measures. Four items on the bad things measure had to do with sexual abuse by family and by non-family members and with physical abuse by family and by non-family members. The correlation between negative experiences and dissociation was approx. 0.40 for the subjects of each sex, and remained at the same level when the scores on the four abuse items were excluded. These results suggest that dissociation is linked with a general tendency to recall and report negative experiences rather than solely with having experienced major traumatic events. Claims of having experienced traumatic events and dissociation may share a common underlying basis in neuroticism.
Past research has indicated a potential link between anxiety and parenting styles that are characterised by control and rejection. However, few studies have utilised observational methods to support these findings. In the current study, mother–child interactions were observed while the child completed two difficult cognitive tasks. The sample consisted of clinically anxious children (n=43), oppositional defiant children (n=20) and non-clinical children (n=32). After adjusting for the age and sex of the child, mothers of anxious children and mothers of oppositional children displayed greater and more intrusive involvement than mothers of non-clinical children. Mothers of anxious children were also more negative during the interactions than mothers of non-clinical children. The differences between anxious and non-clinical interactions were equivalent across three separate age groups. The results support the relationship between an overinvolved parenting style and anxiety but question the specificity of this relationship.
The Egna Minnen Betraffande Uppfostran for Children (EMBU-C; Castro et al., 1993) is a short 34-item questionnaire that intends to measure children and adolescents' perception of three main aspects of parental rearing behaviour: Emotional Warmth, Rejection and Overprotection. However, in the literature, there is circumstantial evidence that the EMBU-C can best be regarded as a 2-factor instrument measuring Positive Rearing Behaviours and Negative Rearing Behaviours. To examine what factor structure is most satisfactory, confirmatory factor analyses were carried out on EMBU-C data of two independent samples of Dutch school children (N = 929 and N = 416). These analyses consistently revealed that the original 3-factor model provides a better fit than the 2-factor model.
The revised version of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED-R) is a self-report questionnaire that measures symptoms of DSM-IV linked anxiety disorders in children. The present study examined the factor structure of the SCARED-R in a sample of 674 normal Dutch school children aged 8 to 13 years. Exploratory factor analysis (principal components with oblimin rotation) clearly pointed in the direction of a 1-factor solution, suggesting that when applied to samples of normal children, the SCARED-R is a unidimensional measure. Additional exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses carried out on parts of the SCARED-R provided some support for the presence of the following factors: panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder, school phobia, social phobia and three types of specific phobias. Implications of these findings for the use of the SCARED-R are briefly discussed.
Accumulating evidence indicates that family/parenting behaviors are associated with the etiology of anxiety disorders in children. This article critically reviews what is known about how family/parenting behaviors have been measured in this literature and presents findings from studies examining the relation between family/parenting constructs and anxiety disorders in children. We review the role of family involvement in the treatment of anxiety disorders in children and conclude with avenues of future research.
The diagnoses of avoidant disorder and social phobia in children have received little research attention. Although DSM-III-R describes avoidant disorder and social phobia as data are available to support this notion. The current study examined characteristics of avoidant disorder and social phobia by comparing outpatient youngsters with avoidant disorder, social phobia, and avoidant disorder plus social phobia on demographic variables and patterns of comorbidity. The psychiatric groups were compared with matched normal controls on symptom measures of depression and fear. Findings indicated that the three psychiatric groups were strikingly similar on all but one variable, age at intake. These findings question the notion of avoidant disorder and social phobia as distinct disorders in children and adolescents.
The authors compared maternal lifetime psychiatric illness for children with separation anxiety disorder and/or overanxious disorder (N = 58) and for children who were psychiatrically disturbed but did not manifest an anxiety or affective disorder (N = 15). The vast majority (83%) of mothers of children with separation anxiety disorder and/or overanxious disorder had a lifetime history of an anxiety disorder. Moreover, over one-half (57%) of the mothers presented with an anxiety disorder at the same time at which their children were seen for similar problems. Both of these rates significantly differed from those obtained for control subjects.
This study of the reliability and validity of scales from the Child's Report of Parental Behavior (CRPBI) presents data on the utility of aggregating the ratings of multiple observers. Subjects were 680 individuals from 170 families. The participants in each family were a college freshman student, the mother, the father, and 1 sibling. The results revealed moderate internal consistency (M = .71) for all rater types on the 18 subscales of the CRPBI, but low interrater agreement (M = .30). The same factor structure was observed across the 4 rater types; however, aggregation within raters across salient scales to form estimated factor scores did not improve rater convergence appreciably (M = .36). Aggregation of factor scores across 2 raters yields much higher convergence (M = .51), and the 4-rater aggregates yielded impressive generalizability coefficients (M = .69). These and other analyses suggested that the responses of each family member contained a small proportion of true variance and a substantial proportion of factor-specific systematic error. The latter can be greatly reduced by aggregating scores across multiple raters.
In this study, psychological control of children was conceptually and empirically distinguished from behavioral control. Further, it was demonstrated as hypothesized that psychological control was more predictive of adolescent internalized problems, and that behavioral control was more predictive of externalized problems. Subjects were 473 fifth-, eighth-, and tenth-grade males and females from a Southern suburb. Control was measured by the Child Report of Parent Behavior Inventory and the Colorado Self-Report of Family Functioning Inventory. Problem behaviors were measured with the Child Behavior Checklist. First- and second-order factor analyses discriminated psychological and behavioral control, and structural equation analyses demonstrated the differential prediction of internalized and externalized problems. These last analyses were conducted using youth-reported data and validated using a subsample of 227 mother-youth pairs.
The Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI) is a widely used measure of parenting, and is usually used to measure two parenting dimensions, care and over-protection. However, there is disagreement in the research literature about whether the PBI is best used as a two-factor or a three-factor measure.
PBI scores from 583 US and 236 UK students were factor analysed to assess whether a three-factor solution was more satisfactory than a two-factor solution.
A three-factor (care, denial of psychological autonomy and encouragement of behavioural freedom) solution was found to be more satisfactory than a two-factor solution. Using the three-factor solution, group differences that were not apparent with the two-factor solution were identified and it was found that the parenting behaviours associated with depression could be more accurately identified.
The authors suggest that with modifications, the PBI could be used to measure three parenting variables (care, denial of psychological autonomy and encouragement of behavioural freedom), which would allow greater accuracy of prediction and a greater understanding of underlying processes.
To develop a reliable and valid child and parent self-report instrument to screen children with anxiety disorders.
An 85-item questionnaire was administered to 341 outpatient children and adolescents and 300 parents. Utilizing item analyses and factor analyses, the original scale was reduced to 38 items. A subsample of children (n = 88) and parents (n = 86) was retested an average of 5 weeks (4 days to 15 weeks after the initial screening.
The child and parent Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) both yielded five factors: somatic/panic, general anxiety, separation anxiety, social phobia For the total score and each of the five factors, both the child and parent SCARED demonstrated good internal consistency (alpha = .74 to .93), test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficients = .70 to .90), discriminative validity (both between anxiety and other disorders and within anxiety disorders), and moderate parent-child agreement (r = .20 to .47, p < .001, all correlations).
The SCARED shows promise as a screening instrument for anxiety disorders. Future studies using the SCARED in community samples are indicated.
There is a vast literature describing the importance of childrearing factors in the development of anxiety and depression. Unfortunately, much of this work comes from diverse areas, has variable theoretical bases, and makes use of a variety of methods, each with its own limitations. Thus, conclusions about the state of the research are difficult to draw. This review pulls together literature related to childrearing factors and anxiety and depression from a wide variety of areas. Many of the studies are methodologically limited and results have been variable. Nevertheless, there is surprising consistency that suggests that rejection and control by parents may be positively related to later anxiety and depression. There is also more limited evidence to indicate that rejection may be more strongly associated with depression, whereas control is more specifically associated with anxiety. Limitations of the research are highlighted and specific suggestions for future research directions are discussed.
Children of parents with anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, mixed anxiety/depressive disorders, and no psychiatric disorder were assessed with semistructured interviews to determine rates of overall psychopathology and to determine specifically the presence of anxiety disorders.
Children of the three "high-risk" groups were significantly more likely to have a diagnosable disorder (including anxiety disorders) than offspring of normal parents, but there were no differences among the children from the three parental diagnostic groups. However, when examined specifically for anxiety disorders, offspring of anxious parents were significantly more likely to have only anxiety disorders. Offspring of depressed or mixed anxious/depressed parents had a broader range of disorders and more comorbid disorders. Family socioeconomic status was related to the probability that a child would have a disorder.
Anxiety disorders are common among offspring of anxious and depressed parents. However, when a parent has depression, children exhibit a broader range of psychopathology than when a parent has an anxiety disorder alone.
This study concurrently examined the relationship between adolescents' perceptions of their parents' child-rearing styles and family environment and their reports of social anxiety. Adolescents reporting higher levels of social anxiety perceived their parents as being more socially isolating, overly concerned about others' opinions, ashamed of their shyness and poor performance, and less socially active than did youth reporting lower levels of social anxiety. Parent perceptions of child-rearing styles and family environment, however, did not differ between parents of socially anxious and nonsocially anxious adolescents. Results are comparable to studies using adult retrospective reports and are discussed with regard to the role of the family environment in the development of social anxiety.
The present study assessed interactions between anxious mothers and their children, using observational techniques to elucidate potential mechanisms of anxiety transmission. Results revealed that anxious mothers were less warm and positive in their interactions with their children, less granting of autonomy, and more critical and catastrophizing in comparison with normal control mothers. Maternal anxiety status appeared to be the primary predictor of maternal warmth during interactions. Child anxiety status was most predictive of maternal granting of autonomy behavior. Maternal behaviors exhibited during interactions were the most salient predictors of child anxiety, contributing more than maternal psychopathology or ongoing strain to the development of child anxiety. Interventions focusing on family interactions that take into account the contributions of both members of the dyad may be more effective in curbing transmission than interventions that solely address maternal or child symptomatology.
Retrospective studies suggest a relationship between parental rearing practices and social phobia. The present study investigated whether socially anxious children perceive their current parental rearing as rejecting, overprotective, and lacking emotional warmth, and as emphasizing the importance of other's opinion, and de-emphasizing social initiatives and family sociability. Furthermore, we examined whether parents of socially anxious children report to rely on such rearing practices, and suffer themselves from social fears. A regression analysis as well as extreme group comparisons were applied. Little support was found for the presumed role of the assessed family rearing aspects in the development of social anxiety in children. Solely family sociability (children's and mothers' report) and children's perception of overprotection of the mother predicted social anxiety in the regression analysis. Given the influence of the mentioned rearing practices, social anxiety of the mother still significantly predicted social anxiety of the child. In the extreme group comparisons, differences in the expected direction were found between socially anxious and normal children on parental rejection, emotional warmth, and family sociability. However, the lack of differences between socially anxious and clinical control children suggests that these variables do not form a specific pathway to social fears.