Parent Anxiety, Child Anxiety, Parental Beliefs about Anxiety, and Parenting Behaviors: Examining Direct and Indirect Associations

Evidence suggests that, compared to parents without anxiety, parents with anxiety may be more likely to engage in a range of maladaptive parenting behaviors. Parents with elevated anxiety levels may tend to hold negative beliefs about their child’s experiences and ability to cope with anxiety; it is not clear, however, whether parental beliefs about offspring anxiety may play a role in the association among parental anxiety, parental perceptions of offspring anxiety, and parenting behaviors. The current study was designed to address this gap by evaluating the association among parental anxiety, parental perceptions of child anxiety, parental beliefs about offspring anxiety, and anxious rearing behaviors. One-hundred and forty-six parents (105 females) between the ages of twenty-four and sixty-three years ( M age = 38.77 years, SD = 7.08 years) reported on parental anxiety levels, parental perceptions of child anxiety levels, parental beliefs about offspring anxiety, and anxious rearing behaviors. Results indicated that parental anxiety was significantly associated with anxious rearing behaviors through parental beliefs about offspring anxiety. Results further suggested that parent and child anxiety may be both directly associated with anxious rearing behaviors and indirectly associated with anxious rearing behaviors through parental beliefs about anxiety. Findings are discussed in terms of next steps needed to improve our understanding of the processes that may account for maladaptive parenting behaviors in parents with elevated anxiety. Highlights Parental anxiety was significantly associated with anxious rearing behaviors through parental beliefs about offspring anxiety. Parental perceptions of offspring anxiety were indirectly and directly associated with anxious rearing behaviors through parental beliefs about anxiety. Results suggest that parental beliefs about anxiety may be an important underlying mechanism in the relation between parent anxiety and rearing behaviors.