Fears in Clinic-Referred Children: Relations With Child Anxiety Sensitivity, Maternal Overcontrol, and Maternal Phobic Anxiety

Abstract

Relations among maternal phobic anxiety, maternal overcontrol, child anxiety sensitivity, and child level of fear were explored in 156 children referred to an outpatient clinic for psychological evaluation. In addition, these relations were examined separately in analyses of age, gender, and diagnostic status. Overall, age, gender, and child anxiety sensitivity, along with maternal ratings of an overly controlling parenting strategy were significant predictors of levels of fear. These four variables predicted approximately 50% of the variance associated with fear levels. Surprisingly, maternal phobic anxiety was not a significant predictor in this sample of clinic-referred children. In separate analyses of age, gender, and diagnostic status (presence or absence of an anxiety disorder), anxiety sensitivity was a significant predictor of fear levels for both older and younger children, for both boys and girls, and for both children with and without an anxiety disorder. However, maternal overly controlling parenting strategy was significant only for the younger children (and not the older ones) and only for girls (and not boys). Moreover, maternal overcontrol was a marginally significant predictor for the anxiety-disorder group (and not the non-anxiety-disordered group). Results are discussed within a developmental framework, and implications for treatment are explored.