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Parental Demandingness and Executive Functioning in Predicting Anxiety among Children in a Longitudinal Community Study

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Abstract

Theoretical models and empirical studies of anxiety have predominately focused on the main effects of various predictors such as executive functioning deficits on anxiety. This study examined the moderating role of parental demandingness in the relationship between executive functioning deficits and anxiety in children. Ninety children (46.67% female) aged from 9 to 14 years completed several executive functioning tasks and a measure of anxiety. Parental demandingness was rated based on an observation of parent-child interactions. The children completed the anxiety measure again at one-year follow-up. The results showed that parental demandingness significantly moderated the prospective relationship between executive functioning deficits and anxiety, such that the association between executive functioning deficits and anxiety in children was weaker when parental demandingness was lower. These findings suggest that low parental demandingness may serve as a protective factor that buffers the detrimental effects of executive functioning deficits on anxiety.

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Authors’ Contributions

B.C.Y.L. conceptualised the study, conducted the analyses, administrated the project, supervised the research team, drafted and edited the manuscript; S.K.C. collected the data, conducted the analysis, drafted and edited the manuscript; T.K.N. conducted the analysis, drafted and edited the manuscript; A.W.M.C. drafted and edited the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Psychology, Lingnan University, Tuen Mun, Hong Kong

    Barbara Chuen Yee Lo

  2. Wofoo Joseph Lee Consulting and Counselling Psychology Research Centre, Lingnan University, Tuen Mun, Hong Kong

    Barbara Chuen Yee Lo & Ting Kin Ng

  3. Department of Psychology, The University of Hong Kong, Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong

    Sin Kan Chan

  4. Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong

    Anna Wai Man Choi

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  1. Barbara Chuen Yee Lo
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Correspondence to Barbara Chuen Yee Lo.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee (Human Research Ethics Committee, The University of Honng Kong) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Lo, B.C.Y., Chan, S.K., Ng, T.K. et al. Parental Demandingness and Executive Functioning in Predicting Anxiety among Children in a Longitudinal Community Study. J Youth Adolescence 49, 299–310 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-019-01103-1

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