Background: Parenting behaviors have consistently been shown to be associated with elevated anxiety symptoms and disorders in children. However, this literature is limited as most studies have focused on global rather than specific parenting behaviors, failed to consistently account for the influence of parental anxiety, and omitted examining…

Background: Offspring of anxious parents are at increased risk for developing anxiety disorders. There is a need to identify which youth are at greatest risk for disorder onset in this population. Objective: This study prospectively examined several theory-based family and parent characteristics (e.g., family conflict, parental over-control,…

Previous research has shown that maternal overcontrol is related to higher levels of child anxiety. It has been theorized, though not empirically tested, that maternal overcontrol decreases child perceived competence and mastery, which increases child anxiety. The present study investigated this theory using a sample of 89 mother-child dyads…

Background: Separate lines of research have shown that higher levels of parental overcontrol and parental anxiety are related to higher levels of child anxiety. The mechanisms of transmission, however, are poorly understood. Objective: It has been theorized, though not empirically tested, that parental overcontrol and anxiety increase children's…

The aim of the current study was to extend etiological models of social anxiety in youth by examining the relative importance of parental (i.e., parental anxiety, rejection, and overcontrol) and peer factors (i.e., social acceptance, social support, and friendship quality). Sixty-three youth (ages 7-12; 52% male) and their parents participated in…

This study tested components of a proposed model of child anxiety and examined the mediational roles of (1) maternal control behavior, (2) maternal external locus of control, and (3) child external locus of control in the association between maternal and child anxiety. Thirty-eight clinically anxious mothers and 37 nonanxious mothers participated…

This article presents an intervention model for young children with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The intervention, designed to reduce compulsive behavior and improve parenting practices, was tested using a multiple baseline design with 7 children (M = 6 years old; 57% female) in which participants were randomly assigned to 1, 2, or 3 weeks…

Anxious and nonanxious mothers were compared on theoretically derived parenting and family environment variables (i.e., overcontrol, warmth, criticism, anxious modeling) using multiple informants and methods. Mother-child dyads completed questionnaires about parenting and were observed during an interactional task. Findings reveal that, after…

Accumulating evidence indicates that family/parenting behaviors are associated with the etiology of anxiety disorders in children. This article critically reviews what is known about how family/parenting behaviors have been measured in this literature and presents findings from studies examining the relation between family/parenting constructs and…

This study examined the relation between type of parent-child interaction task and parenting behaviors among a predominantly African American community-based sample. Twenty-five anxious and matched nonanxious (N = 50) mothers were videotaped with their children (M age = 5.8 years) engaging in both a structured and unstructured task. Blind raters…

Examined familial factors in relation to 93 fifth-graders' motivational orientation and academic performance. High parental surveillance of homework; parental reactions to grades that included negative control, uninvolvement, or extrinsic reward; and over- and undercontrolling family styles were found to be related to children's extrinsic…

Using latent variable path analysis with partial least squares (LVPLS), the study examines the pathways between parenting practices and children's motivational orientation toward school work over the transition to middle school. Greater external control and lack of guidance by parents in the 5th-grade year were related to children's poorer…