ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Increasing evidence for the importance of several risk factors for anxiety disorders is beginning to point to the possibility of prevention. Early interventions targeting known risk for anxiety have rarely been evaluated. The authors evaluated the medium-term (3-year) effects of a parent-focused intervention for anxiety in inhibited preschool-age children. METHOD: The study was a randomized controlled trial of a brief intervention program provided to parents compared with a monitoring-only condition. Participants were 146 inhibited preschool-age children and their parents; data from two or more assessment points were available at 3 years for 121 children. Study inclusion was based on parent-reported screening plus laboratory-observed inhibition. The six-session group-based intervention included parenting skills, cognitive restructuring, and in vivo exposure. The main outcome measures were number and severity of anxiety disorders, anxiety symptoms, and extent of inhibition. RESULTS: Children whose parents received the intervention showed lower frequency and severity of anxiety disorders and lower levels of anxiety symptoms according to maternal, paternal, and child report. Levels of inhibition did not differ significantly based on either parent report or laboratory observation. CONCLUSIONS: This brief, inexpensive intervention shows promise in potentially altering the trajectory of anxiety and related disorders in young inhibited children.
Subject(s)
Anxiety/prevention & control , Parenting/psychology , Psychotherapy, Group/methods , Adult , Anxiety/diagnosis , Child, Preschool , Female , Humans , Inhibition, Psychological , MaleABSTRACT
In the current study, the Five Minute Speech Sample was used to assess the association between parent attitudes and children's behavioral inhibition in mothers of 120 behaviorally inhibited (BI) and 37 behaviorally uninhibited preschool-aged children. Mothers of BI children demonstrated significantly higher levels of emotional over-involvement (EOI) and self-sacrificing/overprotective behavior (SS/OP). However, there was no significant relationship between inhibition status and maternal criticism. Multiple regression also indicated that child temperament, but not maternal anxiety, was a significant predictor of both EOI and SS/OP.
Subject(s)
Child Behavior/psychology , Expressed Emotion , Inhibition, Psychological , Mother-Child Relations , Mothers/psychology , Parenting/psychology , Affect , Anxiety/psychology , Authoritarianism , Child, Preschool , Female , Humans , Male , Maternal Behavior/psychology , Regression Analysis , Surveys and Questionnaires , TemperamentABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to test the validity and factorial structure of a modified version of the Preschool Anxiety Scale (Spence, Rapee, McDonald, & Ingram, 2001). The measure was completed by 764 mothers and 418 fathers of children aged 3 to 5 years. After removing, two items tapping obsessive compulsive symptoms, confirmatory factor analysis showed that a four-factor model (social anxiety, generalized anxiety, separation anxiety, specific fears) all loading on a higher order "anxiety" factor, provided an optimal fit for the data. The total scale and 4 subscales showed strong internal consistency (alphas = .72-.92), 12-month stability y (rs = .60-.75) and maternal/paternal agreement (rs = .60-.75). Scores on the scale also showed expected correlations with a measure of emotional distress, diagnosed anxiety disorders, and behavioral indicators of anxiety.
Subject(s)
Anxiety/diagnosis , Fear/psychology , Social Behavior , Surveys and Questionnaires/standards , Anxiety/classification , Anxiety/psychology , Child, Preschool , Factor Analysis, Statistical , Fathers , Female , Humans , Male , Mothers , Psychology, Child/standards , Reproducibility of Results , Stress, Psychological/diagnosisABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The current study evaluated the efficacy of early intervention for preschool-aged children selected on the basis of risk who also met diagnostic criteria for anxiety disorders. METHOD: Seventy-one 3- to 4-year-old children were selected based on demonstrating high levels of inhibition and having a parent with a current anxiety disorder. They were randomly allocated to an eight-session parent intervention or waitlist. RESULTS: At baseline, all of the children met criteria for one or more anxiety disorders. At 6-month follow-up, the intervention group showed a significantly greater reduction in anxiety disorders and less interference from their anxiety than the waitlist. In addition, children in the intervention condition showed greater reductions in parent and laboratory observed measures of behavioral inhibition. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that a brief early intervention delivered through parents can reduce current anxiety and associated risk and may have the potential to alter the developmental trajectory of anxiety in a high-risk group of young children.
