The Attitudes About Parenting Strategies for Anxiety Scale: A Measure of Parenting Attitudes About Protective and Intrusive Behavior

Systematic review of the link between maternal anxiety and overprotection

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.

Development and Validation of a Maternal Overprotection Scale for Young Children

Objectives: This study aimed to develop and validate the Maternal Overprotection Scale to measure the degree of maternal overprotective behaviors in child-rearing.Methods: There were two parts in this study. In Study 1, the items and scale development was conducted and in Study 2, the scale evaluation was conducted. In Study 1, the sample consisted of 262 mothers with young children aged from five to six years. Mothers rated themselves on the degree of their overprotecting behaviors carried toward their children. The scale initially comprised 45 items, and it ended up with 18 items based on exploratory factor analysis and exploratory structural equation modeling. In Study 2, the data of additional 197 mothers who responded to these items were analyzed by means of confirmatory factor analysis and correlation analysis.Results: In Study 1, the exploratory factor analysis and exploratory structural equation modeling of the scale identified three sub-scale factors: Intrusive Control (eight items), Permissive Indulgence (four items), and Anxious Protection (six items). In Study 2, the Cronbach’s α values ranged from .70 to .85, showing appropriate levels of internal consistency. The cross-validation was established using different samples. The concurrent validity was confirmed by the association with a maternal parenting attitude measured by the Parenting Dimensions Questionnaire (PBDQ).Conclusion: The Maternal Overprotection Scale reliably and accurately measured degrees of overprotective maternal parenting with young children. This scale can be used as a tool for estimating individual differences in mothers’ overprotection for their young children, as well as correlations with other aspects of development.