Maternal and paternal worry, anxious rearing behaviors, and child anxiety during the preschool years.

Abstract

Despite recent studies on parents' worries and children's anxiety, little is known about the mechanisms linking parental worry to childhood anxiety. In a nonclinical sample of 302 preschool children and both parents from Chinese two-parent families, this 1-year longitudinal study examined how maternal and paternal worry predict child anxiety through the mediating role of maternal and paternal anxious rearing behaviors. Structural equation modeling revealed that after controlling for child anxiety (T1): (a) maternal worry (T1) significantly and positively predicted child anxiety (T2) through maternal anxious rearing behaviors (T1), but not through paternal anxious rearing behaviors (T1); and (b) paternal worry (T1) significantly and positively predicted child anxiety (T2) through maternal anxious rearing behaviors (T1), but not through paternal anxious rearing behaviors (T1). These findings suggest that both maternal and paternal worry are related to maternal anxious rearing behaviors, which increase child anxiety. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).