Early adolescents' perceptions of their mother's anxious parenting as a predictor of anxiety symptoms 12 months later

Overparenting and psychological wellbeing among Chinese adolescents: Findings based on latent growth modeling

Although overparenting is a growing phenomenon across the globe, there is a severe lack of longitudinal studies examining the trajectory of overparenting and its effects on early adolescent development, particularly in non-Western contexts. The study collected three waves of longitudinal data from 1328 early Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong with an interval of 1 year to examine the stability and change of perceived paternal and maternal overparenting and their effects on adolescent psychological wellbeing. The results indicated that perceived paternal and maternal overparenting declined over time. Besides, adolescents reported lower anxiety and depressive symptoms when they perceived a steep decline in maternal overparenting. Adolescent anxiety at earlier time points also predicted a steeper decline in paternal and maternal overparenting trajectories respectively. Furthermore, we identified gender differences in the initial level of paternal overparenting and the trajectory of maternal overparenting, as well as the effects of rates of change of maternal overparenting on adolescent anxiety and depressive symptoms. The findings give support for self-determination theory and the separation-individuation model, suggesting that changes of overparenting may hinder adolescents' desires for autonomy and self-direction, which may increase their psychological morbidity. The study contributes to theoretical development of contemporary Chinese socialization models and provides useful pointers for future studies of overparenting.

Anxiety disorders in children and adolescents: A summary and overview of the literature

Considerable work has advanced understanding of the nature, causes, management, and prevention of anxiety disorders in children and adolescents over the past 30 years. Prior to this time the primary focus was on school refusal and specific phobias. It is now recognised that children and adolescents experience the full gamut of anxiety disorders in very similar ways to adults and that anxiety disorders in the paediatric years can predict a lifelong mental-health struggle. Given the vast array of specific studies in this field, the current review summarises current knowledge about these high prevalence disorders, points to overarching limitations, and suggests potentially important future directions. Following a brief historical overview, the review summarises knowledge about demographic and epidemiological characteristics, distal and proximal risk factors, current treatment directions, and prevention. There is still a great deal to learn about the causes and treatments of child and adolescent anxiety disorders. By amalgamating our current knowledge, this review provides a window to the research directions that are likely to lead to future advances.

Anxiety-specific associations with substance use: Evidence of a protective factor in adolescence and a risk factor in adulthood

Externalizing psychopathology is a strong risk factor for substance use, whereas the role of internalizing manifestations of distress, and anxiety in particular, in predicting substance use remains unclear. Studies have suggested that anxiety may be either a protective or risk factor for substance use. The present study aimed to clarify evidence for anxiety-specific associations with substance use, examining sex and developmental period (adolescence vs. adulthood) as potential moderators that may help explain conflicting results in the literature. In a longitudinal twin sample, cross-sectional associations of anxiety with substance use differed in adolescents and adults and in girls/women and boys/men. Controlling for externalizing psychopathology and depression, anxiety was associated with reduced substance use in adolescent girls and increased substance use in adult women. In contrast, anxiety-specific associations with substance use were not significant in boys and men. Possible explanations for these contrasting results across development and sex are discussed.

Bidirectional Associations Between Friend Overprotection and Psychosocial Adjustment During Adolescence

As friends increase in closeness and influence during adolescence, some friends may become overprotective, or excessively and intrusively protective. Engaging in overprotective behavior, and being the recipient of such behavior, may have positive and negative adjustment trade-offs. The current study examines, for the first time, bidirectional associations between friend overprotection and several adjustment trade-offs, including internalizing problems (i.e., depressive and anxiety symptoms), peer difficulties (i.e., rejection and physical and relational victimization), and positive friendship quality (i.e., closeness, help, and security) during early adolescence. Participants were 269 young adolescents (140 boys; M_age = 11.46, SD = 0.41) who completed self-report and peer nomination measures in their schools at two time points 4 months apart (Fall and Spring of the school year). Structural equation models revealed that being overprotected by a friend predicted decreases in friendship quality and was predicted by peer difficulties and internalizing problems (negatively). Being overprotective of friends predicted increases in internalizing symptoms and was predicted by peer difficulties. Findings are novel as they suggest that friend overprotection may be risky (and not beneficial) for both the overprotector and the overprotectee, setting the stage for future inquiry in this new area of peer relations research.

Examining the Directionality of the Relationship Between Maternal Warmth and Early School-Age Anxiety

Maternal warmth has been identified as a contributing factor to the development of child anxiety; however, no studies to date have examined observed maternal warmth longitudinally in this relationship. The present study addressed this knowledge gap by examining the simultaneous development of maternal warmth and child anxiety over time (between-person effects using latent growth curve modeling) and the directionality of associations (within-person effects using autoregressive latent trajectory modeling). Participants included 753 mothers and children. Between-person effects indicated that lower initial levels of anxiety were related to greater levels of maternal warmth over time. Within-person effects showed that maternal warmth in grade 1 predicted subsequent decreases in child anxiety in grade 2 (i.e., a parent effect). Present findings demonstrate the importance of maternal warmth in the early school-age years for decreasing subsequent child anxiety.

A Preliminary Examination of the Interaction between Maternal Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Offspring Negative Affect in Relation to Maternal Worry about Offspring and Perceptions of Psychological Control

Both maternal symptoms and adolescent offspring characteristics are associated with maladaptive parenting among families at risk for anxiety. One disorder that may be particularly associated with maladaptive parenting behaviors is generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Previous work suggests that offspring negative affect (NA) is associated with different levels of maladaptive parenting behaviors among mothers with GAD. No work to date, however, has examined the association between offspring reported NA, maternal GAD, and maternal worry about offspring or maternal perceptions of psychological control (PC) among mothers of adolescents. Sixty-five mothers who were elevated in anxious arousal and their adolescent offspring between the ages of 12 and 16 years old (n = 65, 55% male, M_age = 13.89) reported on parenting (mother report), NA (offspring report), and GAD symptoms (assessed via structured clinical interview), and maternal anxiety sensitivity (AS) symptoms. Study results indicated that maternal GAD status interacted with offspring NA in relation to maternal reported use of PC and worry about offspring. Specifically, offspring NA was positively related to PC for mothers without GAD, but not for mothers with GAD. Further, for mothers with GAD, offspring NA was negatively related to worry about offspring, but this relation did not persist for mothers without GAD. Maternal AS was related to overall higher levels of worry about offspring and PC. Mothers with GAD report using higher levels of maladaptive parenting when offspring report lower levels of NA, and lower levels when offspring report high NA. This pattern was specific to maternal GAD (c.f. anxiety sensitivity).

Friend Overprotection in Emerging Adulthood: Associations with Autonomy Support and Psychosocial Adjustment

Overprotection is a known risk factor in parent-child relationships, but has received little attention in the context of friendships. No studies have examined overprotection in emerging-adult friendships. Yet, overprotection may be especially significant during this developmental period given the prevalence of autonomy-seeking and risk-taking behaviors. In this study, we thus investigated whether overprotection is a feature of emerging-adult friendships that is meaningfully associated with psychosocial adjustment. We also examined whether friend autonomy support is one mechanism by which friend overprotection impacts outcomes. University students (N = 363) completed a new self-report measure of friend overprotection developed for this study, and previously validated measures of relationship qualities (friendship quality, helicopter parenting) and internalizing symptoms (social anxiety, depression). We found initial support for the reliability and validity of the new friend overprotection measure. A path analysis revealed positive associations between friend overprotection and friendship quality and internalizing symptoms, with friend autonomy support as an explanatory mechanism of these associations. Findings are novel as they suggest that overprotection is a salient feature of many friendships during emerging adulthood that may impact psychosocial adjustment in both helpful and harmful ways.

Overparenting, Parent-Child Conflict and Anxiety among Chinese Adolescents: A Cross-Lagged Panel Study

BACKGROUND

Overparenting is an emerging parenting style in which parents over-protect their children from difficulties and challenges by intruding into their lives and providing extensive assistance to them. Unfortunately, longitudinal studies related to overparenting were severely lacking, particularly on its impacts on early adolescents. Moreover, studies examining the mediational pathways through which overparenting is associated with adolescent anxiety are scant. This study examined the mediating role of parent-child conflict (father-child and mother-child) in the relationship between overparenting (paternal and maternal) and adolescent anxiety over time.

METHOD

Based on a three-wave longitudinal data of 1074 Chinese early adolescents in Hong Kong, the relationships among paternal and maternal overparenting, father- and mother-child conflict, and adolescent anxiety were assessed.

RESULTS

Mother-child conflict mediated the relationship between maternal overparenting and adolescent anxiety over time. Besides, a reverse association of prior adolescent anxiety with subsequent maternal overparenting via mother-child conflict was also identified. In addition, adolescent gender and family intactness did not moderate the relationships among overparenting, parent-child conflict, and adolescent anxiety.

DISCUSSION

This present study identified that the bidirectional relationship between maternal overparenting and adolescent anxiety via mother-child conflict over time, which sheds new light on the study of overparenting on adolescent well-being in the Chinese communities.

Effects of Maternal Overprotection on Social Competence in Young Children: The Mediating Role of Young Children’s Anxiety

Objectives: This study aimed to examine the direct and indirect effects of maternal overprotection on the development of young children’s social competence through their anxiety. In this study, maternal overprotection was defined as anxiously shielding their young children from having negative experiences and maintaining developmentally inappropriate intrusive and permissive parenting for their children.Methods: Participants were 183 mothers and 18 teachers with young children aged from four to six years. Mothers rated themselves on the degree of their overprotecting behaviors measured by a maternal overprotection scale for young children (Y. S. Chung & Park, 2021). Teachers rated young children’s anxiety and social competence. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and a structural equation model. Bootstrapping method was applied to examine the significance of the mediating effects.Results: First, there were significant correlations between maternal overprotection, young children’s anxiety and social competence. Second, structural equation modeling supported the hypothesized relations among maternal overprotection, young children’s anxiety and social competence after controlling with young children’s gender, maternal academic background, and monthly household income. And the level of young children’s anxiety mediated the relationship between overprotective parenting and young children’s social competence.Conclusion: This study showed that mother’s overprotective parenting was associated with varying levels of young children’s anxiety and social competence. Additionally the maternal overprotection linked with children’s social competence indirectly through their anxiety. These findings offer basic knowledge applicable to parent education and the for the development of program for improving parenting behaviors. The limitations and other implications of this study are also discussed.

Toddler dysregulated fear predicts continued risk for social anxiety symptoms in early adolescence

Identifying early risk factors for the development of social anxiety symptoms has important translational implications. Accurately identifying which children are at the highest risk is of critical importance, especially if we can identify risk early in development. We examined continued risk for social anxiety symptoms at the transition to adolescence in a community sample of children (n = 112) that had been observed for high fearfulness at age 2 and tracked for social anxiety symptoms from preschool through age 6. In our previous studies, we found that a pattern of dysregulated fear (DF), characterized by high fear in low threat contexts, predicted social anxiety symptoms at ages 3, 4, 5, and 6 years across two samples. In the current study, we re-evaluated these children at 11-13 years of age by using parent and child reports of social anxiety symptoms, parental monitoring, and peer relationship quality. The scores for DF uniquely predicted adolescents' social anxiety symptoms beyond the prediction that was made by more proximal measures of behavioral (e.g., kindergarten social withdrawal) and concurrent environmental risk factors (e.g., parental monitoring, peer relationships). Implications for early detection, prevention, and intervention are discussed.

Longitudinal Associations between Coping Strategies and Psychopathology in Pre-adolescence

Much of the literature investigating the association between coping and psychopathology is cross-sectional, or associations have been investigated in a unidirectional manner; hence, bidirectionality between coping and psychopathology remains largely untested. To address this gap, this study investigated bidirectional relations between coping and psychopathology during pre-adolescence. Participants (N = 532, 51% male) and their primary caregiver both completed questionnaires assessing pre-adolescents' coping (i.e., avoidant, problem solving, social support seeking) and symptoms of psychopathology (i.e., generalized anxiety, social anxiety, depression, eating pathology) in Wave 1 (M_age = 11.18 years, SD = 0.56, range = 10-12) and Wave 2 (M_age = 12.18 years, SD = 0.53, range = 11-13, 52% male), one year later. Cross-lagged panel models showed child-reported avoidant coping predicted increases in symptoms of generalized and social anxiety, and eating pathology. In separate child and parent models, symptoms of depression predicted increases in avoidant coping. Greater parent-reported child depressive symptoms also predicted decreases in problem solving coping. Taken together, results suggest unique longitudinal associations between coping and psychopathology in pre-adolescence, with avoidant coping preceding increases in symptoms of anxiety and eating pathology, and depressive symptoms predicting later increases in maladaptive coping.

Intergenerational transmission of maternal overprotection and child anxiety in substance-using families

The current study investigated an intergenerational transmission model between maternal overprotection and child anxiety across three generations, among a sample of substance-using women and their children. Participants included 183 mother-child pairs. Mothers reported overprotective behaviors of their own mothers, as well as their own anxiety symptoms and substance use at baseline. Mothers reported their adolescents' internalizing behaviors, and adolescents reported their mothers' overprotection, five times over 1.5 years. Growth curve models showed that overprotection among the first generation (G1) mothers was related to anxiety among the second generation (G2) mothers and sequentially the rate of change of overprotection among G2 mothers. Baseline overprotection among G2 mothers was related to baseline internalizing problems among the third generation (G3). More importantly, substance use among G2 mothers moderated the link between the rate of change in overprotection among G2 mothers and the rate of change in internalizing problems among G3 children. Findings uncover the intergenerational transmission model of overprotection-anxiety and shed light upon the complex relations among anxiety, substance use, and parenting in substance-using families.

Overprotective/authoritarian maternal parenting is associated with an enhanced error-related negativity (ERN) in emerging adult females

Error monitoring is crucial for survival and adaptation, and can be indexed by the error-related negativity (ERN), a fronto-centrally located negative deflection in the event-related potential (ERP) waveform that differentiates erroneous from correct responses within 100 ms of a response. The ERN is seen as an early neural signal indicating the need to adjust performance and increase executive control. Previous findings indicate that punishing errors increases ERN magnitude, and that punitive parenting predicts an enhanced ERN in children. If punitive parenting can in fact sensitize children to error commission over the long term, an enhanced ERN should be seen in adults who experienced harsh parenting as children. The present study thus sought to establish whether punitive parenting is associated with an enhanced ERN in emerging adulthood. A sample of 70 emerging adult females reported on their mothers' and fathers' parenting styles separately and performed a flanker task to elicit the ERN. Higher reported overprotective/authoritarian maternal behavior was associated with an enhanced ERN. These results provide further support for the hypothesis that punitive parenting may lead to long-term sensitization of neural networks involved in performance monitoring.

A Longitudinal Study on the Relations Among Fear-Enhancing Parenting, Cognitive Biases, and Anxiety Symptoms in Non-clinical Children

This longitudinal study explored the relations between fear-enhancing parenting behaviors (modeling and threat information transmission) and children's cognitive biases and anxiety symptoms on three subsequent time points over a one-year period. Participants were 216 children aged 7-12 years (114 boys and 102 girls), and their mothers (n = 199) and/or fathers (n = 117). On each time point, children and parents completed the Parental Enhancement of Anxious Cognitions scale, which measures parental modeling and threat information transmission. Furthermore, children filled in a measure of anxiety disorder symptoms. In addition, confirmation bias and interpretation bias were measured by means of a number of computerized tasks. The results yielded support for a circular model in which cognitive biases enhanced anxiety symptoms, which in turn promoted cognitive biases on each of the three time points. However, no evidence was found for longitudinal effects of cognitive biases on anxiety or vice versa. In contrast to what we expected, cognitive biases and anxiety appeared to promote parental modeling and threat information rather than the other way around. These findings extend research on the relations between parenting behaviors, cognitive biases, and childhood anxiety symptoms, and suggest valuable leads for assessment and intervention.

Paternal Mental Health: Why Is It Relevant?

Father's mental health is an emerging area of interest that is beginning to be recognized in research, and to a lesser extent in clinical practice and society. Fathers are part of a parenting dyad with 2 partners who are responsible for their children's emotional development. Similar to mothers, the risk for mental health problems increases once a male becomes a father, but there is limited research examining this issue. The purpose of this review is to present the available literature on father's mental health and its effect on child emotional health through various mechanisms. In general, father's mental health was found to be related to increased child internalizing and externalizing behaviors, but each disorder had different risk factors, and a unique effect on parenting behaviors and the child's emotional health. The most developed paternal mental health literature is focused on depression. However, key conceptual and methodological problems exist that may limit our understanding of paternal depression. Additionally, the focus on paternal depression may not accurately represent the largest risk for paternal psychopathology and the resultant child mental health outcomes because men have an increased likelihood of displaying externalizing behaviors. Implications for research, clinical practice, and policy are discussed.

Investigating Unique Environmental Influences of Parenting Practices on Youth Anxiety

The associations between parenting practices and adolescent anxiety symptoms were examined in both individual and monozygotic (MZ) twin differences levels. Participants were 804 pairs of Chinese MZ adolescent twins aged 10–18 years ( M = 13.57, SD = 2.67, 52% females). Twins’ anxiety symptoms were assessed by self- and parent-reports. Twins also reported their perceived parenting practices. On the individual level, parental warmth-reasoning was negatively, whereas harshness-hostility was positively, associated with both self- and parent-reported youth anxiety. On the MZ-twin differences level, the magnitudes of the associations between parenting practices and youth anxiety were decreased. MZ-twin difference in parental warmth-reasoning remained significantly associated with self- and parent-reported youth anxiety; MZ-twin difference in parental harsh-hostility was only significantly associated with self-reported youth anxiety. This study indicated that parental warmth-reasoning and harshness-hostility may be unique environmental experiences that influence youth anxiety, and illustrated the necessity of controlling for gene-environment correlations when examining the true environmental effects of parenting on child behavior.

Parents' personality clusters and eating disordered daughters' personality and psychopathology

The present study explores how parents' personality clusters relate to their eating disordered daughters' personality and psychopathology. Mothers and fathers were tested with the Temperament Character Inventory. Their daughters were assessed with the following: Temperament and Character Inventory, Eating Disorder Inventory-2, Symptom Checklist-90, Parental Bonding Instrument, Attachment Style Questionnaire, and Family Assessment Device. Daughters' personality traits and psychopathology scores were compared between clusters. Daughters' features were related to those of their parents. Explosive/adventurous mothers were found to relate to their daughters' borderline personality profile and more severe interoceptive awareness. Mothers' immaturity was correlated to their daughters' higher character immaturity, inadequacy, and depressive feelings. Fathers who were explosive/methodic correlated with their daughters' character immaturity, severe eating, and general psychopathology. Fathers' character immaturity only marginally related to their daughters' specific features. Both parents' temperament clusters and mothers' character clusters related to patients' personality and eating psychopathology. The cluster approach to personality-related dynamics of families with an individual affected by an eating disorder expands the knowledge on the relationship between parents' characteristics and daughters' illness, suggesting complex and unique relationships correlating parents' personality traits to their daughters' disorder.

Parental involvement: contribution to childhood anxiety and its treatment

Anxiety disorders are prevalent in youth. Despite demonstrated efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), approximately 40% of anxiety-disordered youth remain unresponsive to treatment. Because developmental and etiological models suggest that parental factors are relevant to the onset and maintenance of childhood anxiety, researchers have proposed and investigated family-based interventions with increased parent work in treatment, aiming to improve the efficacy of treatment for childhood anxiety. However, contrary to what theoretical models suggest, data to date did not indicate additive benefit of family-based CBT in comparison with child-centered modality. Is parent/family involvement unnecessary when treating childhood anxiety disorders? Or could there be the need for specificity (tailored family-based treatment) that is guided by a revised conceptualization that improves the implementation of a family-based intervention? The current review examines (1) relevant parental factors that have been found to be associated with the development and maintenance of childhood anxiety and (2) interventions that incorporate parental involvement. Relevant findings are integrated to formulate a "targeted" treatment approach for parental involvement in CBT for youth anxiety. Specifically, there is potential in the assessment of parent/family factors prior to treatment (for appropriateness) followed by a target-oriented implementation of parent training.

Preschool environment and temperament as predictors of social and nonsocial anxiety disorders in middle adolescence

OBJECTIVE

Of the few risk factors identified for the development of anxiety disorders, behavioral inhibition has received the strongest support. However, studies examining prediction of anxiety disorder from inhibition over time have not been extensive, and very few have assessed the impact of inhibition assessed early in life on anxiety in adolescence.

METHOD

The current study assessed 3 risk factors among 91 children when they were approximately 4 years of age, and determined anxiety diagnoses when the children were in midadolescence (mean age, 15 years). Children were included in the study at preschool age if they scored high (n = 57) or low (n = 34) on behavioral inhibition. Maternal anxiousness and maternal attitudes toward the child were assessed at the same time. Diagnoses at age 15 years were categorized as social anxiety disorder or other anxiety disorders.

RESULTS

Social anxiety disorder at age 15 years was predicted by both inhibition and maternal anxiousness at age 4 years, whereas other anxiety disorders were predicted only by maternal anxiousness. Almost 37% of inhibited preschool-aged children demonstrated social anxiety disorder at age 15, compared with 15% of uninhibited children.

CONCLUSIONS

The results support a growing body of research pointing to the importance of behavioral inhibition as a risk for social anxiety well into adolescence, and also highlight maternal anxiousness as a more general risk across anxiety disorders.

Involving parents in indicated early intervention for childhood PTSD following accidental injury

Accidental injuries represent the most common type of traumatic event to which a youth is likely to be exposed. While the majority of youth who experience an accidental injury will recover spontaneously, a significant proportion will go on to develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). And yet, there is little published treatment outcome research in this area. This review focuses on two key issues within the child PTSD literature--namely the role of parents in treatment and the timing of intervention. The issue of parental involvement in the treatment of child PTSD is a question that is increasingly being recognized as important. In addition, the need to find a balance between providing early intervention to at risk youth while avoiding providing treatment to those youth who will recover spontaneously has yet to be addressed. This paper outlines the rationale for and the development of a trauma-focused CBT protocol with separate parent and child programs, for use with children and adolescents experiencing PTSD following an accidental injury. The protocol is embedded within an indicated intervention framework, allowing for the early identification of youth at risk within a medical setting. Two case studies are presented in order to illustrate key issues raised in the review, implementation of the interventions, and the challenges involved.

Testing a developmental model of anxiety with the Parental Facilitation of Mastery Scale

Parents who are not overly protective and who encourage children to take on challenging experiences may help children develop an enhanced sense of control, thereby reducing the risk for subsequent anxiety. We developed the Parental Facilitation of Mastery Scale (PFMS) to assess parenting behaviors that may promote mastery experiences in childhood. Undergraduates and their biological siblings were recruited to complete the PFMS as well as other measures of parenting behaviors, perceived control, and anxiety. A factor analysis of the PFMS revealed two components representing parental overprotection and parental challenge. These two factors demonstrated adequate psychometric properties. We therefore used this measure to test a model in which perceived control mediated the relationship between parenting behaviors and anxiety. The hypothesized model demonstrated good fit, suggesting that the PFMS may be a useful tool for measuring parental behaviors that promote a sense of mastery and ultimately buffer against anxiety in adulthood.