Publication year
2016
Citation Title
Parental autonomy granting and child perceived control: Effects on the everyday emotional experience of anxious youth.
Journal Name
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
Journal Volume
57
Issue Number
7
Page Numbers
835-842
DOI
10.1111/jcpp.12482
Summary
Childhood anxiety is associated with a lack of mastering and control. A group of anxious youth were examined to study the relationships among parental autonomy granting, child perceived control, and child emotional reactivity in negative life events. Results revealed that both parental autonomy granting and child perceived control were important for anxious youth to deal with negative life events.
Key Findings
Granting autonomy by parents was not associated with child perceived control.
When negative life events happen, child perceived control was associated with less anxiety and more use of emotion-regulation strategies such as cognitive restructuring (i.e., identify and dispute irrational thoughts).
A high level of parental autonomy granting and low child perceived control were associated with more anxiety and less use of problem solving when children were facing negative life events.
Implications for Military Professionals
Participate in professional trainings to learn more about preventing and reducing youth anxiety, and how these strategies relate to military families
Help military parents develop strategies to cope with their youth’s anxiety, and promote youth-perceived control
Implications for Program Leaders
Provide after-school activities for military youth to promote social support and communication
Offer support groups for military parents whose youth are suffering from anxiety disorders
Implications for Policy Makers
Promote additional research on best parental practices in the context of military families
Continue to support parent education programs that aims to increase well-being of military children
Methods
Data were collected from a large study examining the treatment outcome of pediatric anxiety.
Parental autonomy granting was assessed by observing the parent-youth interaction for five minutes.
Youth completed an assessment over phone where they reported on their perceived control, emotional reactivity (anxiety and somatic symptoms), and emotional regulation strategies in response to daily negative life events.
Participants
Participants were 106 youth who were diagnosed as anxious and their primary caregivers.
The average age of the youth was 11.03 years (SD = 1.46); 55% of them were female.
The majority of the participants were White (91%), followed by multi-racial (5%), Black (3%), and Latino (1%).
Limitations
The age range of the youth in the study (9-14 years) was narrow, so the results may not apply to younger children and older adolescents.
The cross-sectional design of the study makes it difficult to determine the causal relations among parental autonomy grant, child perceived control, and child emotion regulation.
Other parenting practices that may contribute to child emotion regulation were not examined in the study.
Avenues for Future Research
Recruit older adolescents to examine if they benefit from a higher level of parental autonomy granting than younger adolescents
Examine other parenting practices (e.g., emotion socialization) that may potentially influence child emotion regulation
Collect longitudinal data to investigate the causal relationship between child perceived control and parental autonomy granting
Focus
Civilian
Target Population
Population Focus
Abstract
Background:Childhood anxiety is associated with low levels of parental autonomy granting and child perceived control, elevated child emotional reactivity and deficits in child emotion regulation. In early childhood, low levels of parental autonomy granting are thought to decrease child perceived control, which in turn leads to increases in child negative emotion. Later in development, perceived control may become a more stable, trait-like characteristic that amplifies the relationship between parental autonomy granting and child negative emotion. The purpose of this study was to test mediation and moderation models linking parental autonomy granting and child perceived control with child emotional reactivity and emotion regulation in anxious youth.
Methods: Clinically anxious youth (N = 106) and their primary caregivers were assessed prior to beginning treatment. Children were administered a structured diagnostic interview and participated in a parent–child interaction task that was behaviorally coded for parental autonomy granting. Children completed an ecological momentary assessment protocol during which they reported on perceived control, emotional reactivity (anxiety and physiological arousal) and emotion regulation strategy use in response to daily negative life events.
Results: The relationship between parental autonomy granting and both child emotional reactivity and emotion regulation strategy use was moderated by child perceived control: the highest levels of self-reported physiological responding and the lowest levels of acceptance in response to negative events occurred in children low in perceived control with parents high in autonomy granting. Evidence for a mediational model was not found. In addition, child perceived control over negative life events was related to less anxious reactivity and greater use of both problem solving and cognitive restructuring as emotion regulation strategies. Conclusion: Both parental autonomy granting and child perceived control play important roles in the everyday emotional experience of clinically anxious children.
Methods: Clinically anxious youth (N = 106) and their primary caregivers were assessed prior to beginning treatment. Children were administered a structured diagnostic interview and participated in a parent–child interaction task that was behaviorally coded for parental autonomy granting. Children completed an ecological momentary assessment protocol during which they reported on perceived control, emotional reactivity (anxiety and physiological arousal) and emotion regulation strategy use in response to daily negative life events.
Results: The relationship between parental autonomy granting and both child emotional reactivity and emotion regulation strategy use was moderated by child perceived control: the highest levels of self-reported physiological responding and the lowest levels of acceptance in response to negative events occurred in children low in perceived control with parents high in autonomy granting. Evidence for a mediational model was not found. In addition, child perceived control over negative life events was related to less anxious reactivity and greater use of both problem solving and cognitive restructuring as emotion regulation strategies. Conclusion: Both parental autonomy granting and child perceived control play important roles in the everyday emotional experience of clinically anxious children.
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