Parental Control, Overprotection Associated With Anxiety in Children

MIAMI – Overprotection may be the mechanism through which parental anxiety and mood disorders lead to such disorders in their children, according to a poster presentation at the annual conference of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America.

A maternal anxiety disorder significantly predicted anxiety disorders in children in one report (J. Abnorm. Child Psychol. 2001;29:1–10). This study found that parental overprotection did not mediate the child's anxiety, although other research suggests it does. For example, parental control was specifically associated with symptoms of general anxiety disorder in children in a study showing that the more the children perceived parental behavior as anxious and controlling, the higher their reported anxiety levels were (Pers. Individ. Dif. 1998;25:1199–206).

To further elucidate the possible mediating effect of parental overprotection, Jacquelyn Doxie and associates assessed 63 children and adolescents from 7 to 16 years old. Children had to have three diagnoses–for example, phobia, social anxiety, and a mood disorder–to participate in the study. The current analysis is part of a larger study of how parental behavior might affect specific phobias in children.

The primary caregiver for each child completed the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule (ADIS)-Client Interview, the ADIS-Parent, and the Parental Bonding Instrument. Researchers administered the ADIS-Child to the participants to determine the number of childhood anxiety diagnoses. The investigators used two-step hierarchical regression analyses to determine if overprotection was indeed a mechanism to explain the relationship between parental and childhood anxiety.

“We found that if the parent has anxiety, then the child is more likely to,” said Ms. Doxie, who is a research assistant for the child and adolescent phobia project at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg.

Parent mood and anxiety disorder diagnoses significantly predicted the number of child diagnoses in the first step of the analysis. In the second step, researchers added overprotection to the regression analysis and found the relationship between parental psychopathology and child anxiety disorder was no longer significant. However, Ms. Doxie said overprotection was significant, “affirming the mediational role of overprotection in predicting childhood diagnoses.”

In a separate presentation at the Anxiety Disorders Association meeting, Aureen Pinto Wagner, Ph.D., said parents might unwittingly fuel anxiety in their children. “Studies have shown that parents of anxious children are often overprotective.”

However, she added, “Not all parents of anxious children are overprotective.” The anxious child might elicit the parental behavior.

In addition, parents may deal differently with their nonanxious children. “Ask parents about how they interact with their other children,” suggested Dr. Pinto Wagner, professor of neurology at the University of Rochester (New York).

The take-home message for clinicians from the current study, Ms. Doxie said, is this: “If you do see a parent who is overprotective, you might have to treat the whole family.”