Parental internalizing symptoms as predictors of anxiety symptoms in clinic-referred children

• Published in: Scandinavian journal of child and adolescent psychiatry and psychology Vol. 8; no. 1; pp. 18 - 24
• Main Authors: Fjermestad, Krister Westlye, Lium, Christina, Heiervang, Einar R., Havik, Odd E., Mowatt Haugland, Bente Storm, Bjelland, Ingvar, Henningsen Wergeland, Gro Janne
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Sciendo 01-01-2020; Psychiatric Research Unit, Region Zealand, Denmark; Exeley Inc
• Subjects: adolescents; anxiety; anxiety disorders; children; Medicine; parents; anxiety; anxiety disorders; adolescents; children; parents
• ISSN: 2245-8875; 2245-8875
• DOI: 10.21307/sjcapp-2020-003

Mothers' and fathers' internalizing symptoms may influence children's anxiety symptoms differently.
To explore the relationship between parental internalizing symptoms and children's anxiety symptoms in a clinical sample of children with anxiety disorders.
The sample was recruited through community mental health clinics for a randomized controlled anxiety treatment trial. At pre-intervention, children (
= 182), mothers (
= 165), and fathers (
= 72) reported children's anxiety symptoms. Mothers and fathers also reported their own internalizing symptoms. The children were aged 8 to 15 years (
= 11.5 years, SD = 2.1, 52.2% girls) and all had a diagnosis of separation anxiety, social phobia, and/or generalized anxiety disorder. We examined parental internalizing symptoms as predictors of child anxiety symptoms in multiple regression models.
Both mother and father rated internalizing symptoms predicted children's self-rated anxiety levels (adj.
= 22.0%). Mother-rated internalizing symptoms predicted mother-rated anxiety symptoms in children (adj.
= 7.0%). Father-rated internalizing symptoms did not predict father-rated anxiety in children.
Clinicians should incorporate parental level of internalizing symptoms in their case conceptualizations.