Mother-child disagreements on child anxiety: associated factors

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 257-270
Author(s):  
Kathryn R. Giuseppone ◽  
Laura E. Brumariu
Keyword(s):  
Behavioral Problems ◽  
Attachment Security ◽  
Child Anxiety ◽  
Childhood Anxiety ◽  
Anxiety Symptoms ◽  
Affect Intensity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Child Attachment ◽  
Individuation Process ◽  
Specific Factors

Purpose Previous literature demonstrated low-to-moderate rates of agreement between children and mothers regarding child anxiety. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate factors related to differences between mother-child dyads who disagreed vs agreed in their reports of child anxiety symptoms. Design/methodology/approach In total, 87 children aged 9-12 years old and their mothers completed questionnaires regarding maternal perceptions of child behavior, maternal separation anxiety about the child’s individuation, and mother-child relationship characteristics. Findings The results showed that mothers in mother-child dyads who disagreed on child anxiety symptoms, compared to those in dyads who agreed on child anxiety symptoms, perceived their children as showing higher affect intensity and behavioral problems. They also expressed greater anxiety about the children’s individuation process, characterized in part by children’s increased autonomy and decline of reliance on them. Further, children in dyads who disagreed, compared to those in dyads who agreed, reported lower mother-child attachment security. Originality/value The results extend the literature by identifying specific factors related to the discrepancy between mothers’ and children’s reports of childhood anxiety in early adolescence. The results highlight the need to consider both mothers’ and children’s views when assessing childhood anxiety. Importantly, the results also indicate that specific factors investigated in this study, including maternal perception of children’s behavioral problems and their affect intensity, maternal anxiety about child individuation, and mother-child attachment security, could be used to inform clinical decisions regarding informant discrepancies.

Is Your Child’s Anxiety Taking Over Your Family?

2020 ◽  
pp. 43-50
Author(s):  
Eli R. Lebowitz
Keyword(s):  
Behavioral Problems ◽  
Parental Behavior ◽  
Child Anxiety ◽  
Childhood Anxiety ◽  
Family Context ◽  
Emotional And Behavioral Problems ◽  
Childhood Disorders ◽  
Psychological Theories ◽  
Natural Tendency ◽  
The Family

This chapter addresses child anxiety in the family context, starting with the myth that parents cause anxiety problems in their children. The idea that parents are responsible for children’s emotional and behavioral problems stems in large part from inaccurate assumptions about human development; outdated psychological theories; misunderstandings of research on the links between parental behavior and childhood disorders; and an incorrect interpretation of family dynamics. On the other hand, a child’s anxiety problem is likely to have an impact on the parents and on the rest of the family. The reason that childhood anxiety, more than other problems, can have such a large impact on parents is that when a child is feeling anxious, they look to their parents to help them feel better. But why are anxious children so reliant on parents? The reason has to do with the very nature of anxiety in humans. The natural tendency of the child to look to the parents for protection and reassurance when feeling worried, scared, or stressed is essentially hardwired into the human brain.

scholarly journals Maternal and paternal influences on the developmental trajectory of childhood anxiety symptoms: a genetically sensitive investigation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andy Peter Field ◽  
Kathryn J. Lester ◽  
Sam Cartwright-Hatton ◽  
Gordon Harold ◽  
Daniel S. Shaw ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Growth Models ◽  
Environmental Influence ◽  
Child Anxiety ◽  
Childhood Anxiety ◽  
Anxiety Symptoms ◽  
Developmental Trajectory ◽  
Adoptive Parent ◽  
Parameter Estimates ◽  
Adopted Children ◽  
Mothers And Fathers

One theory suggests that anxious fathers may pose a greater environmental influence on childhood anxiety than anxious mothers. This study uses the Early Growth and Development Study (EGDS) to test rearing parent anxiety influences from mothers and fathers on child anxiety symptoms between 18 months and 4.5, while considering inherited influences. The EGDS is a longitudinal, multisite study of adopted children recruited through US adoption agencies, and their adoptive and birth parents. Bayesian latent growth models of the trajectory of child anxiety symptoms over 3 years predicted from inherited (birth parent anxiety) and adoptive parent anxiety influences were compared for maternal and paternal measures. Parameter estimates and their HPD intervals provided evidence that the slope for anxiety symptoms between 18 and 54 months is trivially affected by both rearing parent anxiety and inherited influences from both mothers and fathers. Similarly, rearing parental anxiety and inherited influence from both mothers and fathers had only a very small effect on the intercept for growth (anxiety symptoms at 18 months old). The evidence for differences between mothers and fathers for any of these parameters was, at best, weak. Contrary to theoretical predictions, anxiety in the rearing father is unlikely to have a more important role in fostering child anxiety symptoms than that in the rearing mother.

Planning How Parents Will Reduce Accommodation

2019 ◽  
pp. 81-92
Author(s):  
Eli R. Lebowitz
Keyword(s):  
Parental Behavior ◽  
Child Anxiety ◽  
Childhood Anxiety ◽  
Anxiety Symptoms ◽  
Parental Attitude ◽  
Family Accommodation ◽  
The Common

Effectively helping parents to reduce family accommodation of childhood anxiety requires careful and thoughtful planning. This chapter provides guidance on formulating effective and realistic plans for changes in parental behavior aimed at reducing family accommodation of child anxiety symptoms. A well-crafted plan will be focused, specific, and pragmatic. It will also avoid the common pitfalls that can hinder implementation, which are discussed in the next chapter. This chapter also provides guidelines and examples for communicating the plan to the child and maintaining a supportive parental attitude. Clinical anecdotes and sample texts enrich the chapter and bring the content to life.

Maternal Prenatal Anxiety and Children’s Externalizing and Internalizing Behavioral Problems: The Moderating Roles of Maternal-Child Attachment Security and Child Sex

2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 88-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Ali ◽  
Nicole Letourneau ◽  
Karen Benzies ◽  
Henry Ntanda ◽  
Deborah Dewey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Behavioral Problems ◽  
Attachment Security ◽  
Emotional Health ◽  
Secondary Analysis ◽  
Child Attachment ◽  
Prenatal Anxiety ◽  
Nutrition Study ◽  
Child Behavioral Problems ◽  
Type Of Behavior ◽  
Maternal Child

Background Prenatal anxiety is associated with child behavioral problems. Prenatal anxiety is predictive of postnatal anxiety which can interfere with the security of maternal-child attachment and further raise the risk of child behavior problems. Secure maternal-child attachment is essential for optimal emotional health. Sex influences the type of behavior problem experienced. There is a gap in understanding whether attachment security and the sex of the child can moderate association between prenatal anxiety and children’s behavioral problems. Purpose To examine the association between prenatal anxiety and child behavioral problems and to test the moderating effects of attachment security and child sex on the association between prenatal anxiety and child behavioral problems. Methods Secondary analysis of data from 182 mothers and their children, enrolled in the Alberta Pregnancy Outcomes and Nutrition Study using Hayes' (2013) conditional process modeling. Results Prenatal anxiety was associated with both externalizing ( b = −0.53; standard error ( SE) = 0.20; p = 0.009) and internalizing ( b = −0.32; SE = 0.13; p = 0.01) behaviors only in children with an insecure style of attachment. Child sex did not moderate the association between prenatal anxiety and children's behavioral problems. Conclusions Attachment security moderated the association between prenatal anxiety and children’s externalizing and internalizing behavioral problems.

scholarly journals Toddler Temperament Mediates the Effect of Prenatal Maternal Stress on Childhood Anxiety Symptomatology: The QF2011 Queensland Flood Study

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (11) ◽  
pp. 1998 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mia A. McLean ◽  
Vanessa E. Cobham ◽  
Gabrielle Simcock ◽  
Sue Kildea ◽  
Suzanne King
Keyword(s):  
Maternal Stress ◽  
Child Anxiety ◽  
Childhood Anxiety ◽  
Internalizing Behaviors ◽  
Anxiety Symptoms ◽  
Prenatal Maternal Stress ◽  
Subjective Distress ◽  
Mediation Analyses ◽  
Maternal Report ◽  
Negative Reactivity

It is not known whether alterations to temperamental characteristics associated with prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) exposure account for the development of childhood anxiety symptomatology (internalizing behaviors and anxiety symptoms). The QF2011 Queensland flood study examined whether (1) toddler temperamental characteristics explained the association between PNMS exposure and childhood anxiety symptomatology; and (2) whether effects were dependent upon child sex or the timing of gestational exposure to PNMS. We investigated the effects of various aspects of flood-related stress in pregnancy (objective hardship, cognitive appraisal, subjective distress) on maternal report of 16-month toddler temperament (attentional control, shy-inhibition, negative reactivity), 4-year maternal-reported childhood anxiety symptomatology (internalizing and anxiety symptoms; N = 104), and teacher reports of internalizing behaviors (N = 77). Severity of maternal objective hardship during pregnancy and shy-inhibited behaviors were uniquely associated with 4-year child anxiety symptoms. Mediation analyses found that higher levels of 16-month negative reactivity accounted, in part, for the relationship between increased maternal objective flood-related hardship and greater internalizing behaviors (maternal but not teacher report). Neither child sex nor gestational timing of exposure moderated the hypothesized mediations. Our findings highlight several pathways through which varying aspects of disaster-related PNMS may influence early childhood anxiety symptomatology.

Why Accommodation Matters

2019 ◽  
pp. 29-38
Author(s):  
Eli R. Lebowitz
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Model ◽  
Functional Impairment ◽  
Child Anxiety ◽  
Childhood Anxiety ◽  
Anxiety Symptoms ◽  
Family Accommodation ◽  
Parents And Children ◽  
Negative Cycle ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Motivation For Treatment

This chapter reviews the negative outcomes of parental accommodation of childhood anxiety. Family accommodation is associated with more severe child anxiety symptoms over time, greater functional impairment, and high levels of distress for the parents and family. The chapter lays out a theoretical model for the negative cycle of family accommodation and anxiety. The “accommodation trap” ensnares parents and children in an ongoing cycle in which parents accommodate to reduce child anxiety but the accommodation actually leads to more child anxiety, and to even more accommodation. The chapter also discusses some of the ways that accommodation maintains childhood anxiety including through promoting avoidant behavior in the child, reducing insight, and lowering the child’s motivation for treatment.

Co-occurring trajectories of anxiety and insistence on sameness behaviour in autism spectrum disorder

2020 ◽  
Vol 218 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-27
Author(s):  
Danielle A. Baribeau ◽  
Simone Vigod ◽  
Eleanor Pullenayegum ◽  
Connor M. Kerns ◽  
Pat Mirenda ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Middle Childhood ◽  
Child Behavior Checklist ◽  
Childhood Anxiety ◽  
Parent Report ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Diagnostic Interview ◽  
Anxiety Symptoms ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Insistence On Sameness

BackgroundChildren with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have increased susceptibility to anxiety disorders. Variation in a common ASD symptom, insistence on sameness behaviour, may predict future anxiety symptoms.AimsTo describe the joint heterogeneous longitudinal trajectories of insistence on sameness and anxiety in children with ASD and to characterise subgroups at higher risk for anxiety.MethodIn a longitudinal ASD cohort (n = 421), insistence on sameness behaviour was measured using the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised at approximately ages 3, 6 and 11 years. Anxiety was quantified at 8 time points between ages 3 and 11 years using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) (parent report). Clusters of participants following similar trajectories were identified using group-based and joint trajectory modelling.ResultsThree insistence on sameness trajectories were identified: (a) ‘low-stable’ (41.7% of participants), (b) ‘moderate-increasing’ (52.0%) and (c) ‘high-peaking’ (i.e. increasing then stabilising/decreasing behaviour) (6.3%). Four anxiety trajectories were identified: (a) ‘low-increasing’ (51.0%), (b) ‘moderate-decreasing’ (16.2%), (c) ‘moderate-increasing’ (19.6%) and (d) ‘high-stable’ (13.1%). Of those assigned to the ‘high-peaking’ insistence on sameness trajectory, 95% jointly followed an anxiety trajectory that surpassed the threshold for clinical concern (T-score >65) by middle childhood (anxiety trajectories 3 or 4). Insistence on sameness and anxiety trajectories were similar in severity and direction for 64% of the sample; for 36%, incongruous patterns were seen (e.g. decreasing anxiety and increasing insistence on sameness).ConclusionsThe concurrent assessment of insistence on sameness behaviour and anxiety in ASD may help in understanding current symptom profiles and anticipating future trajectories. High preschool insistence on sameness in particular may be associated with elevated current or future anxiety symptoms.

scholarly journals Longitudinal investigation of the role of temperament and stressful life events in childhood anxiety

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 437-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne Broeren ◽  
Carol Newall ◽  
Helen F. Dodd ◽  
Ruth Locker ◽  
Jennifer L. Hudson
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Life Events ◽  
Stressful Life Events ◽  
Negative Life Events ◽  
Childhood Anxiety ◽  
Diagnostic Interview ◽  
Anxiety Symptoms ◽  
Positive Behavior ◽  
Stressful Life ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe current study investigated the longitudinal relationships among behavioral inhibition (BI), life events, and anxiety in a sample of 102 BI children and 100 behaviorally uninhibited (BUI) children aged 3 to 4 years. Children's parents completed questionnaires on BI, stressful life events, and anxiety symptoms, and were administered a diagnostic interview three times in a 5-year period. In line with our hypotheses, negative life events, particularly negative behavior-dependent life events (i.e., life events that are related to the children's own behaviors), and the impact of negative life events were predictive of increases in subsequent anxiety symptoms, the likelihood of having an anxiety disorder, and increased number of anxiety diagnoses over the 5-year follow-up period. Experiencing more positive, behavior-independent life events decreased the risk of being diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. Furthermore, differences were found in life events between BI and BUI children. That is, BI children experienced fewer positive and specifically positive behavior-dependent life events, and the impact of these positive life events was also lower in BI children than in BUI children. However, BI did not interact with life events in the prediction of anxiety problems as hypothesized. Therefore, this study seems to indicate that BI and life events act as additive risk factors in the development of anxiety problems.

Assessment and treatment of anxiety in children and adolescents with ASD: a systematic review

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Celal Perihan ◽  
Mack D. Burke ◽  
Lisa Bowman-Perrott ◽  
Joel Bocanegra
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Implementation Fidelity ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Anxiety Symptoms ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Typically Developing Children ◽  
Pilot Studies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Children With Asd

Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the quality of current studies that assess and treat anxiety symptoms in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). More specifically the study aimed to answer the following questions: What are the qualities of the current studies using cognitive behavioral therapies (CBTs) to treat anxiety symptoms in children with ASD? Did studies make necessary modifications and adaptations to CBTs according to the evidence-based strategies and implement these versions of CBTs with precise fidelity? Were the selected measurements appropriate for assessing the anxiety symptoms in children with ASD? Design/methodology/approach A systematic review protocol was developed from the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (Moher et al., 2009). A rubric was adapted based on the CEC (Council for Exceptional Children; Cook, 2014) group comparison studies standards and the Evaluative Method for Determining EBP in Autism (Reichow et al., 2007). The 3-point Likert Scale (Chard et al., 2009) was adapted to score each study based on the rubric. Findings CBT is a first-line treatment with significant mixed results. Current studies use adapted versions of existing CBTs for children with ASD without reporting empirical evidence to these adaptations and changes. Reporting of the implementation fidelity is still an issue in the treatment of anxiety. Anxiety measurements that were designed for typically developing children failure to detect unusual anxiety symptoms in children with ASD. Research limitations/implications The first limitation of this study was including a variety of studies across CBT programs and types of anxiety symptoms. Types of anxiety and CBT treatments may require separate analyses with specific indicators. Due to the limited studies, reviews could not be analyzed across types of CBT programs. The second limitation was the types of studies. Most of the studies were pilot studies. Pilot studies might use various instruments and CBTs components for making selections to produce the best effects and results. The final limitation was the lack of examination of the data analysis process. Originality/value These findings are important because due to the variety of changes or adaptation to CBTs, inappropriate implementations and failure to detect unusual anxiety symptoms of children with ASD may cause significant differences in treatment responses and outcomes. The study demonstrated that the majority of the studies used adapted versions of existing CBTs without reporting empirical evidence for these adaptations and changes. The findings have shown that reporting of the implementation fidelity is still an issue. Moreover, the majority of studies had used anxiety measurements that were designed for typically developing children, not for children with ASD.

Investor sentiment antecedents

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ranjan Dasgupta ◽  
Rashmi Singh
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Stock Market ◽  
Emerging Market ◽  
Investment Decision ◽  
Investor Sentiment ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Investment Decision Making ◽  
Retail Investors ◽  
Specific Factors

PurposeThe determinants of investor sentiment based on stock market proxies are found in numbers in empirical studies. However, investor sentiment antecedents developed from primary survey measures by constructing an investor sentiment index (ISI) are not done till date. The purpose of this paper is to fill this research gap by first developing an ISI for the Indian retail investors and then examining the investor-specific, stock market-specific, macroeconomic and policy-specific factors’ individual impact on the investor sentiment.Design/methodology/approachFirst, the authors develop the ISI by using the mean scores of six statements as formulated based on popular direct investor sentiment surveys undertaken throughout the world. Then, the authors employ the structural equation modeling approach on the responses of 576 respondents on 40 statements (representing the index and four study hypotheses) collected in 2016 across the country.FindingsThe results show that investor- and stock market-specific factors are the major antecedents of investor sentiment for these investors. However, interestingly macroeconomic fundamentals and policy-specific factors have no role to play in driving their sentiment to invest in the stock market.Practical implicationsThe major implication of the results is that the Indian retail investors are showing a mixed approach of Bayesian and behavioral finance decision making. So, these implications can guide the investment consultants, regulators, other stakeholders in markets and overwhelmingly the retail investors to introspect their investment decision making across time horizons.Originality/valueThe formulation of ISI in an emerging market context and thereafter examining possible antecedents to influence retail investors in their investment decision making are not done till date. So, the study is unique in its research issue and findings and will have significant implication for the retail investors at least in emerging market contexts.

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