Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Maternal Overcontrol and Child Anxiety: The Mediating Role of Perceived Competence

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Child Psychiatry & Human Development Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

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 (children aged 6–13, 84.3% Caucasian, 6.7% African American, and 51.7% male). After statistically controlling for maternal anxiety level, child perceived competence was shown to partially mediate the relationship between maternal overcontrol and child anxiety. Though current findings are based on cross sectional data, they suggest multiple pathways through which maternal overcontrol impacts child anxiety. One pathway, described in theoretical models, posits that greater levels of parental control reduce children’s opportunities to acquire appropriate developmental skills, lowering their perceived competence, and thus increasing their anxiety. Implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Rapee RM, Schniering CA, Hudson JL (2009) Anxiety disorders during childhood and adolescence: origins and treatment. Annu Rev Clin Psychol 5:311–341

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Chorpita BF, Barlow DH (1998) The development of anxiety: the role of control in the early environment. Psychol Bull 124:3–21

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Craske MG (1999) Etiology of anxiety disorders. In: Craske MG (ed) Anxiety disorders: psychological approaches to theory and treatment. Westview Press, Boulder, pp 59–103

    Google Scholar 

  4. Vasey MW, Dadds MR (2001) An introduction to the developmental psychopathology of anxiety disorders. In: Vasey MW, Dadds MR (eds) The developmental psychopathology of anxiety. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 3–26

    Google Scholar 

  5. Beidel DC, Turner SM (1997) At risk for anxiety: I. psychopathology in the offspring of anxious parents. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 36:918–924

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Turner SM, Beidel DC, Costello A (1987) Psychopathology in the offspring of anxiety disorders patients. J Consult Clin Psychol 55:229–235

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Ginsburg GS, Siqueland L, Masia-Warner C, Hedtke KA (2004) Anxiety disorders in children: family matters. Cogn Behav Pract 11:28–43

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Hudson JL, Rapee RM (2001) Parent–child interactions and anxiety disorders: an observational study. Behav Res Ther 39:1411–1427

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Wood JJ, McLeod BD, Sigman M, Hwang W, Chu BC (2003) Parenting and childhood anxiety: theory, empirical findings, and future directions. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 44:134–151

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Rapee RM (2001) The development of generalized anxiety. In: Dadds MR (ed) The developmental psychopathology of anxiety. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 481–503

    Google Scholar 

  11. Dadds MR, Roth JH (2001) Family processes in the development of anxiety problems. In: Dadds MR (ed) The developmental psychopathology of anxiety. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 278–303

    Google Scholar 

  12. Barber BK (1996) Parental psychological control: revisiting a neglected construct. Child Dev 67:3296–3319

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Ballash N, Leyfer O, Buckley A, Woodruff-Borden J (2006) Parental control in the etiology of anxiety. Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev 9:113–133

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. McLeod BD, Wood JJ, Weisz JR (2007) Examining the association between parenting and childhood anxiety: a meta-analysis. Clin Psychol Rev 27:155–172

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Becker K, Ginsburg G, Domingues J, Tein J (2010) Maternal control behavior and locus of control: examining mechanisms in the relation between maternal anxiety disorders and anxiety symptomatology in children. J Abnorm Child Psychol 38:533–543

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Moore PS, Whaley SE, Sigman M (2004) Interactions between mothers and children: impacts of maternal and child anxiety. J Abnorm Psychol 113:471–476

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Ginsburg GS, Grover RL, Ialongo N (2004) Parenting behaviors among anxious and non-anxious mothers: relation with concurrent and long-term child outcomes. Child Fam Behav Ther 26:23–41

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Turner SM, Beidel DC, Roberson-Nay R, Tervo K (2003) Parenting behaviors in parents with anxiety disorders. Behav Res Ther 41:541–554

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Siqueland L, Kendall PC, Steinberg L (1996) Anxiety in children: perceived family environments and observed family interaction. J Clin Child Psychol 25:225–237

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Hudson JL, Rapee RM (2004) From anxious temperament to disorder: an etiological model of generalized anxiety disorder. In: Heimberg RG, Turk CL, Mennin DS (eds) Generalized anxiety disorder: advances in research and practice. Guilford, New York, pp 51–76

    Google Scholar 

  21. Wood JJ (2006) Parental intrusiveness and children’s separation anxiety in a clinical sample. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 37:73–87

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Teachman B, Allen J (2007) Development of social anxiety: social interaction predictors of implicit and explicit fear of negative evaluation. J Abnorm Child Psychol 35:63–78

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Muris P, Schouten E, Meesters C, Gijsbers H (2003) Contingency-competence-control–related beliefs and symptoms of anxiety and depression in a young adolescent sample. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 33:325–339

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Chansky TE, Kendall PC (1997) Social expectancies and self-perceptions in anxiety-disordered children. J Anxiety Disord 11:347–363

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Ekornås B, Lundervold AJ, Tjus T, Heimann M (2010) Anxiety disorders in 8–11-year-old children: motor skill performance and self-perception of competence. Scand J Psychol 51:271–277

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Laible DJ, Carlo G (2004) The differential relations of maternal and paternal support and control to adolescent social competence, self-worth, and sympathy. J Adolesc Res 19:759–782

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Barber BK, Olsen JE, Shagle SC (1994) Associations between parental psychological and behavioral control and youth internalized and externalized behaviors. Child Dev 65:1120–1136

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Muris P, Merckelbach H (1998) Perceived parental rearing behaviour and anxiety disorders symptoms in normal children. Pers Individ Dif 25:1199–1206

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Brown TA, DiNardo PA, Barlow DH (1994) Anxiety disorders interview schedule for DSM-IV. Graywind Publications, New York

    Google Scholar 

  30. Hudson JL, Doyle AM, Gar N (2009) Child and maternal influence on parenting behavior in clinically anxious children. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol 38:256–262

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Ginsburg GS (2009) The child anxiety prevention study: intervention model and primary outcomes. J Consult Clin Psychol 77:580–587

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Spielberger CD, Gorsuch RL, Lushene PR, Vagg PR, Jacobs AG (1983) Manual for the state-trait anxiety inventory (form Y). Consulting Psychologists Press Inc, Palo Alto

    Google Scholar 

  33. Muris P, Meesters C, von Brakel A (2003) Assessment of anxious rearing behaviors with a modified version of ‘egna minnen beträffande uppfostran’ questionnaire for children. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 25:229–237

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Harter S (1982) The perceived competence scale for children. Child Dev 53:87–97

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Birmaher B, Khetarpal S, Brent D, Cully M (1997) The screen for child anxiety related emotional disorders (SCARED): scale construction and psychometric characteristics. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 36:545–553

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  36. von Hippel P (2011) Skewness. In: Lovric M (ed) International encyclopedia of statistical science. Springer, Berlin, pp 1340–1342

    Google Scholar 

  37. Baron RM, Kenny DA (1986) The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. J Pers Soc Psychol 51:1173–1182

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Sobel ME (1982) Asymptotic confidence intervals for indirect effects in structural equations models. In: Leinhart S (ed) Sociological methodology 1982. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, pp 290–312

    Google Scholar 

  39. Manassis K, Bradley SJ (1994) The development of childhood anxiety disorders: toward an integrated model. J Appl Dev Psychol 15:345–366

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Parker G (1983) Parental overprotection: a risk factor in psychosocial development. Grune & Stratton, New York

    Google Scholar 

  41. Hagekull B, Bohlin G, Hammarberg A (2001) The role of parental perceived control in child development: a longitudinal study. Int J Behav Dev 25:429–437

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Ginsburg GS, Schlossberg MC (2002) Family-based treatment of childhood anxiety disorders. Int Rev Psychiatry 14:143–154

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Wood JJ, McLeod BD (2008) A family-based treatment manual for practitioners. WW Norton & Co, New York

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgment

This study was supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (K23MH63427-02 and R01MH077312-01) awarded to Golda S. Ginsburg.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 550 North Broadway/Suite 202, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA

    Nicholas W. Affrunti & Golda S. Ginsburg

Authors
  1. Nicholas W. Affrunti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Golda S. Ginsburg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Golda S. Ginsburg.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Affrunti, N.W., Ginsburg, G.S. Maternal Overcontrol and Child Anxiety: The Mediating Role of Perceived Competence. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 43, 102–112 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-011-0248-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-011-0248-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation