Mother-child disagreements on child anxiety: associated factors
| Pages | 257-270 |
| Date | 18 December 2017 |
| Published date | 18 December 2017 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JCS-11-2016-0021 |
| Author | Kathryn R. Giuseppone,Laura E. Brumariu |
Mother-child disagreements on child
anxiety: associated factors
Kathryn R. Giuseppone and Laura E. Brumariu
Abstract
Purpose –Previous literature demonstrated low-to-moderate rates of agreement between children and
mothers regarding child anxiety. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate factors related to differences
between mother-child dyads who disagreed vs agreed in their reports of child anxiety symptoms.
Design/methodology/approach –In total, 87 children aged 9-12 years old and their mothers completed
questionnaires regarding maternal perceptions of child behavior, maternal separation anxiety about the
child’s individuation, and mother-child relationship characteristics.
Findings –The results showed that mothers in mother-child dyads who disagreed on child anxiety
symptoms, compared to those in dyads who agreed on child anxiety symptoms, perceived their children as
showing higher affect intensity and behavioral problems. They also expressed greater anxiety about the
children’s individuation process, characterized in part by children’s increased autonomy and decline of
reliance on them. Further, children in dyads who disagreed, compared to those in dyads who agreed,
reported lower mother-child attachment security.
Originality/value –The results extend the literature by identifying specific factors related to the discrepancy
between mothers’and children’s reports of childhood anxiety in early adolescence. The results highlight the
need to consider both mothers’and children’s views when assessing childhood anxiety. Importantly, the
results also indicate that specific factors investigated in this study, including maternal perception of children’s
behavioral problems and their affect intensity, maternal anxiety about child individuation, and mother-child
attachment security, could be used to inform clinical decisions regarding informant discrepancies.
Keywords Anxiety, Assessment, Childhood, Internalizing, Multi-informant, Parent-child relationships
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Childhood anxiety is associated with negative outcomes, including decreased academic
performance, low self-esteem, poor peer and familial relationships, and later comorbid
psychopathologies (see Muroff and Ross, 2011 for a review). There is no gold standard to assess
childhood anxiety (Albano et al., 2003), yet a multi-informant approach is generally considered the
preferred method for identifying and assessing the greatest amount of reliable information on
childhood emotional disorders (Kendall and Flannery-Schroeder, 1998; Weems and Stickle, 2005).
Thus, agreement between reporters of child anxiety (e.g. parent and child) is one key factor, among
others, implicated in the assessment and diagnosis of anxiety disorders in childhood (for a review
see, De Los Reyes and Kazdin, 2005). Previous studies spanning several decades, however, show
low-to-moderate diagnostic- and symptom-level agreement between parents’and children’s
reports of childhood anxiety, regardless of the measurement approach utilized (e.g. continuous
measures or diagnostic interviews of anxiety (kso0.40; rs range between 0.15 and 0.35;
e.g. Achenbach et al., 1987; Choudhury et al., 2003; Comer and Kendall, 2004; Grills and Ollendick,
2002; Weems et al., 2011; see De Los Reyes and Kazdin, 2005 for a review).
The lack of a single effective method for assessing childhood anxiety derives in part from the reality
that, while each informant’s perspective is unique and valuable, different informants perceive
children’s emotional states in diverse ways. Children consistently report more anxiety for
themselves than their parents do for them (e.g. Manassis et al., 2009; Niditch and Varela, 2011;
Received 29 November 2016
Revised 26 May 2017
Accepted 27 July 2017
Kathryn R. Giuseppone and
Laura E. Brumariu are both
based at the Department of
Clinical Psychology, Gordon F.
Derner Institute of Advanced
Psychological Studies, Adelphi
University, Garden City,
New York, USA.
DOI 10.1108/JCS-11-2016-0021 VOL. 12 NO. 4 2017, pp. 257-270, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1746-6660
j
JOURNAL OF CHILDREN'S SERVICES
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PAG E 257
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