Publication year
2015
Citation Title
Mother-child emotion communication and childhood anxiety symptom
Journal Name
Cognition and Emotion
Journal Volume
29
Issue Number
3
Page Numbers
416-431
DOI
10.1080/02699931.2014.917070
Summary
Mother-child communication about emotions may relate to children's anxiety symptoms. By observing how mother-child dyads discussed conflicting issues, the study examined whether children's anxiety symptoms were associated with certain aspects of mothers' and children's behaviors. Results revealed that both mother's and child's emotion communication behaviors (e.g., supportiveness, engagement in the conversation) explained the severity of child anxiety.
Key Findings
Mothers of more anxious children were less supportive, and showed more controlling behaviors, such as trying to manipulate their children’s feelings.
Anxious children showed more communication problems such as less engagement in the conversation and greater affect intensity.
The pattern of associations between parenting and child anxiety was similar for boys and girls.
Implications for Military Professionals
Work with military parents to help them determine specific changes in parenting practices and parenting styles that may have a significant impact on child well-being
Support parents whose children are diagnosed with anxiety disorders by teaching them effective parenting skills and optimal parenting styles
Implications for Program Leaders
Design curricula for military parents to increase their parenting skills and foster healthy parent-child relationships
Encourage military families to focus on increasing positive communication among family members
Implications for Policy Makers
Recommend training for professionals who work with military families regarding the impact supportive and warm parenting can have on children’s mental health
Continue to support the development of programs that aim to increase positive parenting in military families
Methods
Children were recruited from both local schools and mental health clinics so that a full range of anxiety symptoms were represented.
Child anxiety symptoms were self-reported, and the mother-child interaction during an eight-minute conflict conversation was videotaped and coded to examine variables such as mother’s psychological control, warmth, and interest in the child, and child’s intensity of affect and engagement in the conversation.
Data were analyzed to determine whether aspects of mother-child communication related to child anxiety symptoms.
Participants
Participants were 87 mother-child dyads; 39 of the children were male, and 48 were female.
The average age of the children was 11.32 years (SD = 0.68, age range = 10.17-12.83 years).
Most of the children were White (67%), followed by Black (17%), Multiracial (9%), Native American (6%), and Latino (1%).
Limitations
The mother-child interaction task was carried out in the laboratory, therefore mothers’ and children’s emotion expressions may be suppressed due to social desirability bias.
The cross-sectional design of the study limited the ability to draw causal conclusions regarding the relation between parent-child interaction and child anxiety.
Children’s anxiety symptoms were self-reported, therefore their anxiety levels could potentially be exaggerated or understated.
Avenues for Future Research
Examine whether father-child interactions will have an effect on children’s anxiety symptoms
Observe parent-child interactions in the home or naturalistic environment
Use both parent-report and self-report methods to measure children’s anxiety symptoms
Focus
Civilian
Target Population
Population Focus
Abstract
This study examined whether several aspects of emotion communication in mother-child dyads relate to child anxiety symptoms. Mother and child behaviours related to emotion communication were coded based on videotaped mother-child interactions in a sample of 87 ten- to twelve-year olds, and children reported on their anxiety symptoms. Mothers of more anxious children were less supportive in that they engaged more in psychologically controlling behaviours designed to manipulate the child's emotional state, exhibited less warmth and interest in the child, and were less elaborative during conversations about an emotionally negative event. Further, more anxious children showed greater affect intensity and lower congruency of emotions and behaviours, and were less engaged in the conversation. Examining the role of child gender did not change the results significantly. Mother and child emotion communication behaviours each explained significant variance in child anxiety. The results showed that how mothers and children approached emotion-related conversations is important for child anxiety, and highlighted the need to consider mother and child behaviours related to emotion communication in assessment and interventions with anxious children.
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