Contrary to expectations, higher levels of parental expectations were associated with lower
levels of child anxiety.
Despite these limitations, the present results contribute to the
fields of child anxiety and parenting in several ways.
The majority of studies about the
effect of child anxiety on coparenting report on the prospective association between the temperamental predisposition for anxiety, that is, behavioral inhibition or a reactive temperament, and coparenting.
Developmental psychopathologists have long posited a reciprocal relation between parenting behaviors and the development
of child anxiety symptoms.
The SCAS items cover six sub-scales each tapping into a specific
aspect of child anxiety, namely Generalized Anxiety Disorder (e.g., «Has trouble sleeping due to worrying.»)
As regards child anxiety, much research has relied on fairly broad indices of child reactive / difficult temperament or internalizing problems
instead of child anxiety complaints or disorders.
Andrew R. Eisen, PhD, is Associate Professor in the School of Psychology and
Director of the Child Anxiety Disorders Clinic at Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Specifically, one child factor (child cognitions / locus of control), two parent factors (parent psychopathology and parenting stress), and two parent — child relationship factors (parent — child dysfunctional interaction and parenting style) were examined as mediators in the relationship between stressful life events and
severity of child anxiety.
Next, relations between mothers» and fathers»
predictions of child anxiety at induction were examined using linear regression including anxiety in holding as a covariate.
Findings build on previous literature by clarifying parent and family factors that appear to play a role in the development or maintenance of threat bias and may inform etiological
models of child anxiety.
There did not, however, appear to be any associations between interviewer observed
levels of child anxiety at 10 months and their carers» mental wellbeing or feelings about parenthood.
The Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS) 12 provides an overall measure of anxiety and six subscales, each tapping a specific
aspect of child anxiety.
Findings extend our knowledge about anxious fathers, and highlight the need for additional research on the impact of fathers» parenting with respect to the
development of child anxiety.
The scale has concurrent validity in relation to other child report measures of internalising problems (for example, the Child Depression Inventory (CDI) 13) and other measures
of child anxiety.
Although theory and research provides support for an association between emotional rigidity of parent - child dyads and externalizing and internalizing problems, it is unknown whether a lack of emotional flexibility in parent - child dyads is also associated with clinical levels
of child anxiety.
Children completed a measure
of child anxiety.
Further, the role of parenting variables are frequently emphasised in theoretical models
of child anxiety (e.g., Chorpita and Barlow 1998; McLeod et al. 2007).