Childrearing Style in Families of Anxiety-Disordered Children: Between-Family and Within-Family Differences

• Published in: Child psychiatry and human development Vol. 40; no. 2; pp. 197 - 212
• Main Authors: Lindhout, Ingeborg E., Markus, Monica Th, Borst, Sophie R., Hoogendijk, Thea H. G., Dingemans, Peter M. A. J., Boer, Frits
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01.06.2009; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescents; Adults; Anxiety Disorders; Anxiety Disorders - psychology; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Biological and medical sciences; Case-Control Studies; Child; Child and School Psychology; Child clinical studies; Child Rearing; Children; Comparative Analysis; Control; Control Groups; Expressed Emotion; Expressed emotions; Family Characteristics; Family environment. Family history; Female; Humans; Interviews; Male; Medical sciences; Original Article; Parent Child Relationship; Parent-Child Relations; Parenting; Parenting Styles; Parents; Psychiatry; Psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Rejection (Psychology); Selfreport; Siblings; Siblings - psychology; Social psychiatry. Ethnopsychiatry; Expressed emotion; Child anxiety disorder; Parent report; Childrearing style; Child report; Siblings; Social environment; Human; Affect affectivity; Parental behavior; Emotional expression; Anxiety disorder; Sibling; Parent child relation; Parent rating; Social interaction; Family environment; Child
• ISSN: 0009-398X; 1573-3327
• DOI: 10.1007/s10578-008-0120-y

This study examined whether (1) parents of anxiety-disordered (AD) children differed from those of non-clinical controls in their childrearing style, and whether (2) the child-rearing style of parents towards AD children is different from that towards their siblings. A clinical sample of 25 AD children, age range 8–13 years, was compared with 25 siblings and a non-clinical control group ( n  = 25). Childrearing was assessed by means of parental self-report, child report and through an expressed emotion interview measure. AD children perceived more parental rejection than non-clinical control children or the AD children’s siblings. High-expressed emotion was scored significantly more often towards AD children than non-clinical control children, or their siblings. On ‘care’ and ‘control’ parental self-report showed some differences regarding AD children on the one hand and non-clinical control children or siblings of AD children on the other. These results suggest that the rearing of AD children differs significantly both from the rearing of their siblings and that of non-clinical control children.