Mother and Child Ratings of Child Anxiety: Associations With Behavioral Avoidance and the Role of Family Accommodation

SYNOPSIS

Objective. This study compared mother and child ratings of child anxiety to each other and to an objective measure of the child’s avoidant behavior, using a novel motion-tracking paradigm. The study also examined the moderating role of family accommodation for the link between mother ratings of child anxiety and child behavioral avoidance. Design. Participants were 98 children (7- to 14-years-old) and their mothers. Children met criteria for a primary anxiety disorder. Measures included parent and child versions of the Multi-Dimensional Anxiety Scale for Children and the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders. Children also completed the Spider Phobia Questionnaire for children and the Family Accommodation Scale for Anxiety—Child Report. The Yale Interactive Kinect Environment Software platform was used to measure children’s behavioral avoidance of spider images. Results. Mother and child ratings of child anxiety were moderately correlated. Only child ratings of child anxiety were associated with child behavioral avoidance. Child-rated family accommodation moderated the association between parent ratings and child avoidance. When accommodation was low parent ratings correlated with child avoidance, but not when accommodation was high. Conclusions. The findings contribute to understanding commonly reported discrepancies between mother and child ratings of child anxiety symptoms.

Article Information

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: The author signed a form for disclosure of potential conflicts of interest. Dr. Lebowitz reports grants from NARSAD, grants from NIMH, and grants from NCATS during the conduct of the study; he also reports personal fees from John Wiley and Sons, and personal fees from Cross County Education, outside the submitted work.

Ethical Principles: The author affirms having followed professional ethical guidelines in preparing this work. These guidelines include obtaining informed consent from human participants, maintaining ethical treatment and respect for the rights of human or animal participants, and ensuring the privacy of participants and their data, such as ensuring that individual participants cannot be identified in reported results or from publicly available original or archival data.

Funding: Grant support from NIMH (K23MH103555), NCATS (KL2TR000140), and the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation (NARSAD 21470).

Role of the Funders/Sponsors: None of the funders or sponsors of this research had any role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; or decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Acknowledgments: Dr. Lebowitz is grateful to Ms. Alyssa Martino, Ms. Krista Basile, and Ms. Danielle Ruotolo for their assistance in the preparation of this manuscript.