1. PARENT BEHAVIOUR AND CHILD ANXIETY 1
Parent Behaviour and Child Anxiety:
A Longitudinal Proposal
Layla Hurst
University of Windsor

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Table of Content
Title page 1
Chapter 1: Introduction 3 - 4
Chapter 2: Review of Literature 5 - 8
Chapter 3: Method 8 -10
Chapter 4: 10
Chapter 5: 10
References 11 - 12

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CHAPTER I – INTRODUCTION
Anxiety is defined most simply as “the general feeling of impending danger”
(Hergenhahn, Olson & Cramer, 2003). Anxiety serves the purpose of alerting us to potential
threats to our safety and in moderation is accepted as a normal, healthy occurrence.
According to Rollo Reese May, normal anxiety is “the apprehension cued off by a threat to
some value which the individual holds essential to his existence as a self” (May, 1967, p. 72;
Hergenhahm, Olson & Cramer, 2003). However, often times anxiety becomes neurotic in
nature, provoking unnecessary worry in an individual despite the lack of true threat. This type
of anxiety may cause prolonged distress and often contributes to the development of an
anxiety disorder.
While anxiety affects people across all demographics, the focus will be narrowed to
anxiety and youth. The prevalence of anxiety tends to be high in youth (Chavira, Stein,
Bailey, & Stein, 2004) and can be stifling to healthy development (Kendall et al., 2010; Van
Amerigen, Mancini, & Farvolden, 2003; Verduin & Kendall, 2008). Multiple factors have
been studied regarding the causation of anxiety and the development of anxiety disorders in
children and adolescents. Environmental factors have been said to play an important role in
the aforementioned, especially individuals in the youth's environment with whom they are
raised. Specifically, parent-child relationships have been studied and parental factors have
been found to be associated with the development of youth anxiety.
Connectedly, a study by Wei, Cummings, Villabø and Kendall (2007) looked at the
parent-child relationship in order to assess how parental anxiety affects child anxiety. The
study examined how parental anxious self-talk is associated with anxious self-talk in youth.
Self-talk can be defined as the statements people make to themselves about their feelings and
cognitions. As well, it examined how specific parental behaviours – acceptance and control –

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are associated with anxious self-talk in parents and children. Results showed that anxious
parental self-talk had a positive correlation with child anxious self-talk. Maternal acceptance
was shown to have a negative correlation with both anxious parent and child self-talk.
Maternal psychological control and biological control showed no correlation to anxious self-
talk in youth or mothers, while paternal psychological control was positively correlated to
anxious youth self-talk (but not anxious paternal self-talk). This study was conducted over a
short period of time.
The proposed study would use the measures (plus additional ones) from the Wei et al.,
(2007) study and apply them to a longitudinal study. The purpose of the proposed study
would be to expand upon the Parenting and Self-Talk research and will attempt to answer
questions about the longitudinal effects of parental behaviour (affection, psychological
control and behavioural control) on anxious self-speech of youth over a long period of time.
Participants would be studied from the age of 6 until the age of 18. The proposed hypotheses
would be (1) Parental behaviours will be associated with youth anxious self-speech over a
long period of time, (2) Parents who score high in acceptance will have low scores of anxious
self-speech and will have children with less anxious self-speech over time, (3) Parents who
are reported as more controlling will score higher in anxious self-speech and have children
who report more anxious self-speech.
A longitudinal study of parental influence on child anxiety could shed light on
effective preventative and therapeutic options for anxiety from childhood to adulthood.
Limitations of the study would be the inability to predict the longterm effects of parental
behaviour on child anxiety beyond the age of 18.

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CHAPTER II - REVIEW OF LITERATURE
A study conducted by Harper, Harvey and Stein (2007) observed the ways in which
maternal anxiety was associated with the way mothers interacted with their babies. It was
hypothesized that the higher in trait anxiety the mother ranked, the less likely she was to
respond sensitively to her child. Participants were recruited through public advertisement and
included 32 high trait anxiety mothers, 32 medium to low trait anxiety mothers and their 10 –
14 month old infants. Level of trait anxiety was determined using the Spielberger State-Trait
Anxiety Inventory (STAI-T, Spielberger 1983; Harper, Harvey & Stein, 2007). Mother-infant
interaction was video-recorded in the home environment for a total of 10 minutes. During this
time, mothers were instructed to interact with their infant using 4 (2.5 min each) different
toys. Video tapes were then coded using a blind method. Results showed that mothers who
ranked high in trait anxiety showed less sensitive responsiveness to their infant (p = .03)
(Harper et al., 2007).
Wood, Mcleod, Sigman, Hwang and Chu (2003) conducted a study of existing
research to examine four theoretical questions: Consistency of evidence that certain parenting
styles or behaviours pose as a risk for anxiety development, the degree to which these styles
or behaviours pose a risk for childhood anxiety, direction of effects between parenting
technique and childhood anxiety (Wood et al., 2003). As well, it examines if the evidence
points to parenting styles being linked to child trait anxiety and parenting behaviours being
linked related to specific anxiety disorders in children (Wood et al., 2003). Three categories
of parental behaviour were used as criteria for reviewed literature: acceptance, control and
modelled anxiety. 21 published research articles were selected from multiple sources (print,
computer database, etc), with samples of children ranging from 4 to 18 years of age. Findings
showed that in most studies examined, parental control exhibited consistent correlation with

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childhood anxiety. Parental acceptance was also observed to have a moderate effect on the
risk of childhood anxiety (Wood et el., 2003).
Continuing on, a study by Moore, Whaley & Sigman (2004) observed the impact of
maternal and child anxiety within the mother-child relationship. It was hypothesized that
maternal warmth would be associated with maternal anxiety levels and that the allowance for
child autonomy would be associated with a diagnosis of anxiety in children (Moore, Whaley
and Sigman, 2004). Participants consisted of 68 mothers and their children, ranging in age
from 7 to 15. The sample for the study was gathered through maternal anxiety support
groups, the Child Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Anxiety Disorders Clinic at the
University of California, Los Angeles Neurophysics Institute and public announcements
(Moore, Whaley & Sigman, 2004). Mothers and children were assessed by graduate students
using a blind study method. Video recordings were made of 3 mother-child tasks: the ideal
person task, the conflict conversation task and the anxiety conversation task (Moore, Whaley
& Sigman, 2004). Findings demonstrated that, contrary to the hypothesis, mothers who
parented anxious children tended to show less warmth, independent of whether mothers were
diagnosed with an anxiety disorder or not. As well, mothers with children who were anxious
allowed for less child autonomy on the conversation task, regardless of the mother's
diagnostic status (Moore, Whaley & Sigman, 2004).
Barlow and Chorpita reviewed findings studying the relationship between control and
anxiety. Specifically, the child, their locus of control – perceived control over the events in
one's environment (Rotter, 1966) and its relation to anxiety. Data examined the proposal that
a specific set of family characteristics correlates to the development of childhood anxiety and
resulting anxiety disorders. Studies showed that a more responsive parenting style was
associated with internalized locus of control in children. That is, children with responsive

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parents are more likely to believe they are capable of controlling their environment and thus
are less likely to exhibit anxiety. As well, it was seen that parents who are less restrictive and
allow their children to explore their environment in order to develop new skills (Chorpita &
Barlow, 1998) may help strengthen the sense of internal locus of control. Review of a study
that used the Parental Bonding Instrument was conducted. A self-report measure assessing
warmth (care) and control (protection) was given to adults. Participants were asked to report
the type of parenting style they received as children. In a study of 50 patients diagnosed with
anxiety, anxious participants were more likely to report their parents rearing style as high on
protection and low in care than the control group (Chorpita & Barlow, 1998).
Wei, Cummings, Villabø and Kendall (2014) conducted a study to examine the
relationship between anxious self-speech in youth who had an anxiety disorder and its
association with parental factors. The study measured the effect that parental anxious self-
speech had on youth levels of anxious self-speech, as well as how parental behaviours are
associated with levels of anxious self-speech in both parents and children. The study used a
sample of children and their parents, selected from multiple sources. A clinical diagnosis of
anxiety disorders, along with a series of self-administered questionnaires were used to collect
the data. The data was underwent statistical analysis using a multiple-mediation process (Wei
et al., 2014). The analysis showed maternal anxious self-speech to be positively correlated to
levels of anxious self-speech in their children. However, the same relationship was not found
to exist for fathers. Maternal acceptance was shown to be negatively correlated to anxious
self-speech in both mothers and children with a diagnosed anxiety disorder. The same held
true for paternal-child relationships. Both maternal behaviour control and psychological
control showed no association with levels of maternal or child anxious self-speech (Wei, et
al., 2014). Paternal psychological control positively correlated to anxious self-speech in

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children and fathers, while behavioural control showed no correlation. (Wei, et al., 2014))
CHAPTER III - METHOD
Purpose of proposed research study
The purpose of the proposed study is to expand upon the Parenting and Self-Talk
research from Wei, Cummings, VillabØ and Kendall (2014). The proposed study will attempt
to answer questions about the longitudinal effects of parental behaviour (affection,
psychological control and behavioural control) on anxious self-speech of youth over a long
period of time.
Hypotheses to be Tested
(1) Parental behaviours will be associated with youth anxious self-speech over a long
period of time.
(2) Parents who score high in acceptance will have low scores of anxious self-speech and
will have children with less anxious self-speech over time.
(3) Parents who are reported as more controlling will score higher in anxious self-speech
and have children who report more anxious self-speech.
Participants
The sample of participants will be composed of youth aged 6 – 18 who have been
identified as having at least one anxiety disorder and their parents. Participants will be
selected so that there is a 50:50 female-male ratio. The sample population will vary in terms
of annual income, parental education and youth living circumstances (SES).
Procedure
The subjects in question will be selected using a multi-source method to ensure

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greater diversity within the sample. Prior to the beginning of the study, consent forms will be
distributed to the prospective participants. Assent must be given by parents for children under
the legal age of consent (18). Participants will be made aware of the purpose of the study and
clear instructions will be given. Participants reserve the right to withdraw from the study at
any given time. All data gathered will be kept confidential. Data will be collected through a
series of self-administered questionnaires, as well as unstructured observational interviews.
Diagnostic assessment using the ADIS C/P will be conducted by a clinician.
Research Methods
The Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule: child and parent versions (DSM-5, 2013)
will be used as the youth diagnostic tool in for anxiety disorders. Past research has
demonstrated that this measure demonstrates adequate interrater reliability, retest reliability
and concurrent validity (Wei et al., 2014).
Assessment of anxious self-speech of youth will be measured using the Negative
Affectivity Self Statement Questionnaire (NASSQ, Roman, Kendall & Rowe, 1994; Wei et
al., 2014). This measure utilizes a 5-point Likert scale rating system, comprised of 70
phrases. Participants will be asked to rate how often they say these phrases to themselves.
Cronbach's alpha showed reliability of r = .87 (Wei et al., 2014)) for the NASSQ.
The Anxious Self Statements Questionnaire (ASSQ, Kendall & Hollon, 1989; Wei et
al., 2014) will be used to measure anxious self-speech in parents, using a 5-point Likert scale.
The Cronbach alpha of the ASSQ is shown to be r = .96 (Wei et al., 2014).
Parental behaviour will be observed using 2 methods: child reports of perceived
parental behaviour and semi-structured observational interviews. Youth will rate their parents
on acceptance, behavioural control and psychological control. The semi-structured interview
will consist of a cooperative task that parent and child must communicate and work on

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together in order to complete. The interview will be observed by a trained clinician.
Each of these measures will be repeated on the same participants once per year, for 12
years (ages 6 to 18) in order to take into consideration (1) developmental changes in the
child, (2) shifts in the parent-child dynamic.
CHAPTER IV - RESULTS
To be found.
CHAPTER V - DISCUSSION
To be discussed.

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REFERENCES
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primary care: Prevalent but untreated. Depression and Anxiety, 20(4).
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Chorpita, B. F., & Barlow, D. H. (1998). The development of anxiety: The role of control in t
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Diagnostics and Statistics Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.). (2013). N.p.: Amer
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(2010). Clinical characteristics of anxiety disordered youth. Journal of Anxiety Disorders,
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May, R. (1967). The Meaning of Anxiety (p. 72). New York, NY: Ronald Press Co.
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