1. Maternal and Child Correlates of Child Anxiety at 2 ½
Kristin S. Mount, M.A., Susan C. Crockenberg, PhD, Patricia Bárrig Jó, PhD
Department of Psychology, University of Vermont
Girls rated more anxious than boys
High sensitivity  lower child anxiety
High inhibition  high anxiety, but effect moderated by sensitivity
If inhibition high, child anxiety high if sensitivity low or hit
If inhibition low, child anxiety high if sensitivity low
Goals
To predict anxiety in 2 ½ year olds as a function of maternal anxiety, maternal behavior, and child temperament.
To test the mediating effect of maternal sensitivity on maternal anxiety as it relates to child anxiety.
To test the moderating effect of maternal sensitivity on child temperament in relation to child anxiety.
To test the curvilinear effect of sensitivity on child anxiety.
Background
Maternal Anxiety
Maternal anxiety: a risk factor for anxiety in children
Interactions with anxious mothers likely to be either:
Insensitive: decreased responsiveness or intrusiveness
Overprotective: restricted exploration
Sensitivity
Behaviors well-matched to child’s needs & intensity (Bowlby, 1969; Ainsworth et al., 1978)
Linked to a secure mother-child relationship (Bowlby, 1969)
Insecure attachment  increase risk of anxiety (Gar et al., 2005)
Overprotection & High Sensitivity
Excessive protection reduces opportunity for child to learn how to regulate in and desensitize to frightening situations
Overprotection can be sensitive: mother is cued in to child’s fear & acts on her child’s behalf: may result in a curvilinear association
Inhibited Temperament
Moderately stable over time for some children, unstable for others (Chess & Thomas, 1983, Rothbart & Derryberry, 1981)
Inhibition in 1st & 2nd years increases risk for anxiety (Kagan et al., 1994, Shamir-Essakow et al, 2005)
When combined with temperamental factors, sensitive parenting may contribute to or hinder development of anxiety
Conflicting Findings suggest Curvilinear Effect
Crockenberg & Leerkes (2006): when maternal sensitivity high, high distress to novelty did not predict anxiety at 2.5 yrs.
■ High sensitivity may reduce likelihood of anxiety, especially in temperamentally predisposed children.
Arcus (2001): high solicitousness predicted greater inhibition.
■ High sensitivity may contribute to anxiety, especially in temperamentally predisposed children.
Taken together, suggest possible curvilinear effect of maternal sensitivity on anxiety for temperamentally inhibited children
Hypotheses
Maternal anxiety & child anxiety: positive correlation.
Maternal anxiety & maternal sensitivity: negative correlation
Maternal sensitivity & child anxiety: negative correlation
Child inhibition & child anxiety: positive correlation
A quadratic effect of maternal sensitivity
on child anxiety expected: very high/low
maternal sensitivity  high child anxiety
■ effect stronger for more inhibited children
Procedure
82 Mother-child dyads; primarily low risk
Questionnaires sent ahead of visit
■ Maternal Anxiety: Mood and Anxiety Symptom Questionnaire-- Short (MASQ-Short; Watson & Clark, 1991)
■ Child Inhibition: ECBQ (Rothbart, 2003); Fear & Shyness /inhibition subscales combined
■ Child Anxiety: CBCL (Achenbach, 1992); Anxious/Depressed & Withdrawn subscales combined
Videotaped during exposure to novelty for ~ ½ hr, mother involved.
■ Sensitivity rated in four 45-second intervals during novel events
■ Maternal behavior rated on a 7-point scale on Sensitivity to Distress and Sensitivity to Non-Distress
2nd sensitivity rating: Maternal Attachment Diaries (Burrous, 2004)
Diary entry rated maternal sensitivity in fear situation; 1=very insensitive; 5=very sensitive
Completeness & appropriateness of response given child distress
Measures combined to create composite sensitivity variable
Maternal
Sensitivity
Sensitivity to mediate association between maternal and child anxiety.
Sensitivity to moderate association of inhibition w/ child anxiety: inhibited children w/ sensitive mothers more anxious; inhibited children w/ less sensitive mothers  less anxious)
Maternal
Anxiety
Child
Anxiety
Inhibited
Temperament - -
Maternal Sensitivity
Low Inhibition
Child Anxiety
Maternal Sensitivity
Child Anxiety
High Inhibition
Maternal Sensitivity
Discussion
Sensitivity may reduce or increase development of anxious child behaviors in temperamentally inhibited children, but appears only to reduce anxiety in less inhibited children
■ Suggests very sensitive behavior may also be overprotective
Mother is attuned to child’s cues, but does not encourage him to learn other regulation behaviors or to become less fearful
Maternal anxiety did not predict lower maternal sensitivity
■ Non-clinical sample, lower levels of anxiety than prior samples
■ Anxious mothers both less/more sensitive (overprotective)
Mothers rated girls as more highly anxious than boys, independent of all other simple and interactive effects
Consistent with prior evidence (U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services, 1999, Degnan & Fox, 2007)
That gender effect stronger for inhibited children suggests inhibited girls at greater risk for remaining inhibited
■ perhaps due to parental overprotection
Results
Lack of association of maternal anxiety with maternal sensitivity and child anxiety precluded testing the hypothesized mediating effect.