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Mother–child relationships, family context, and child characteristics as predictors of anxiety symptoms in middle childhood

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 April 2011

Kathryn A. Kerns ,
Shannon Siener  and
Laura E. Brumariu
Kathryn A. Kerns*
Affiliation:
Kent State University
Shannon Siener
Affiliation:
Kent State University
Laura E. Brumariu
Affiliation:
Kent State University
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Kathryn Kerns, Department of Psychology, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242; E-mail: kkerns@kent.edu.
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Abstract

The goal of the study was to examine several factors that may explain the development of anxiety symptoms in middle childhood. Using data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care (n = 1,364 families), we examined mother–child relationships, other aspects of family context, and child characteristics as predictors of anxiety in preadolescence. Latent growth curve analyses revealed that children who were more anxious at the beginning of middle childhood had been more behaviorally inhibited as preschoolers, and in middle childhood lived in families who experienced more negative life events and had mothers who were more anxious. Children who became more anxious across middle childhood were less behaviorally inhibited as preschoolers and in middle childhood perceived less security in their attachments to their mothers, experienced more negative life events, and had mothers who were more anxious. The findings illustrate the need to include a broad set of risk factors in etiological models of anxiety. In addition, the evidence for cumulative effects suggests several possible points of intervention with anxious children and their parents.

Type
Regular Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 23 , Issue 2 , May 2011 , pp. 593 - 604
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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