The relationship between challenging parenting behaviour and childhood anxiety disorders

Background: This research investigates the relationship between challenging parenting behaviour and childhood anxiety disorders proposed by Bögels and Phares (2008). Challenging parenting behaviour involves the playful encouragement of children to go beyond their own limits, and may decrease children’s risk for anxiety (Bögels & Phares, 2008). Method: Parents (n = 164 mothers, 144 fathers) of 164 children aged between 3.4 and 4.8 years participated in the current study. A multi-method, multi-informant assessment of anxiety was used, incorporating data from diagnostic interviews as well as questionnaire measures. Parents completed self-report measures of their parenting behaviour (n = 147 mothers, 138 fathers) and anxiety (n = 154 mothers, 143 fathers). Mothers reported on their child’s anxiety via questionnaire as well as diagnostic interview (n = 156 and 164 respectively). Of these children, 74 met criteria for an anxiety disorder and 90 did not. Results: Fathers engaged in challenging parenting behaviour more often than mothers. Both mothers’ and fathers’ challenging parenting behaviour was associated with lower report of child anxiety symptoms. However, only mothers’ challenging parenting behaviour was found to predict child clinical anxiety diagnosis. Limitations: Shared method variance from mothers confined the interpretation of these results. Moreover, due to study design, it is not possible to delineate cause and effect. Conclusions: The finding with respect to maternal challenging parenting behaviour was not anticipated, prompting replication of these results. Future research should investigate the role of challenging parenting behaviour by both caregivers as this may have implications for parenting interventions for anxious children.

The impact of parents' expectations on parenting behaviour: an experimental investigation

Over-involved parenting is commonly hypothesized to be it risk factor for the development of anxiety disorders in childhood. This parenting style may result from parental attempts to prevent child distress based on expectations that the child will be unable to cope in a challenging situation. Naturalistic studies are limited in their ability to disentangle the overlapping contribution of child and parent factors in driving parental behaviours. To overcome this difficulty, an experimental study was conducted in which parental expectations of child distress were manipulated and the effects on parent behaviour and child mood were assessed. Fifty-two children (aged 7 - 11 years) and their primary caregiver participated. Parents were allocated to either a "positive" or a "negative" expectation group. Observations were made of the children and their parents interacting whilst completing a difficult anagram task. Parents given negative expectations of their child's response displayed higher levels of involvement. No differences were found on indices of child mood and behaviour and possible explanations for this are considered. The findings are consistent with suggestions that increased parental involvement may be a "natural" reaction to enhanced perceptions of child vulnerability and an attempt to avoid child distress.

Care staff attributions toward self-injurious behaviour exhibited by adults with intellectual disabilities

Challenging behaviours may elicit negative emotional reactions and increase stress within care staff. The Leeds Attributional Coding System (LACS) was used to elicit spontaneous causal attributions of staff toward hypothetical clients with challenging behaviours. It was hypothesized that there would be relationships (1) between staff exposure to challenging behaviours and burnout, and (2) between staff cognitions and burnout. Using a cross-sectional correlational design, 41 care staff took part in a 10 minute interview about two vignettes depicting self-injurious behaviour. Staff also completed measures of demographic information and burnout. Participants made attributions toward self-injurious behaviour that were typically internal to the client, uncontrollable, unstable and specific.There was a significant association between number of clients cared for and emotional exhaustion and personal accomplishment. Staff who made fewer stable attributions had higher levels of burnout. There were no other relationships found between staff cognition and burnout. The LACS can be successfully employed in this context, and may have some benefits over other methods. Future research is required to explore the relationship between cognition and burnout.