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Overprotective Parenting, Social Anxiety, and External Locus of Control: Cross-sectional and Longitudinal Relationships

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Abstract

A relationship between social anxiety and a parenting style marked by overprotection and low warmth has been repeatedly demonstrated (e.g., Bruch et al. in Anxiety Reaserch 2:57–65, 1989; Lieb et al. in Arch Gen Psychiatry 57:859–866, 2000). The current study supports the findings in the broader literature of a significant relationship between social anxiety and recollections of overprotective and cold parenting among college students. External locus of control partially mediated the relationship between overprotective parenting and social anxiety. However, these analyses used cross-sectional data, and an alternate mediational model was also significant, highlighting the various ways in which these factors interact. Finally, recollections of maternal overprotection predicted an increase in social anxiety during the first semester of college, suggesting their influence on current functioning.

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Notes

  1. Planned analyses also included the examination of negative interpretation bias as a potential mediator of the relationship between overprotective parenting and social anxiety. However, problems with the completion of the interpretation bias measure resulted in a large amount of missing data (35.2%) and precluded our ability to complete these analyses.

  2. Only a subsample of respondents who provided both reports of maternal and paternal overprotection is included (n = 748) in the mediator analyses examining the composite of “parental overprotection.” However, analyses were also conducted examining maternal and paternal overprotection separately, and these findings were identical to the overall findings presented.

  3. Because the analyses conducted separately for maternal and paternal overprotection produced different results, the analysis including the overall “parental overprotection” variable is not presented, although it did produce a significant change in R 2.

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Acknowledgments

This study was part of Megan Spokas’s doctoral dissertation conducted at Temple University under the mentorship of Richard G. Heimberg. The authors wish to thank Lauren B. Alloy, Deborah A. G. Drabick, Robert Fauber, Melissa Napolitano, and Robert Ruchinskas, who served on the dissertation defense committee.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychopathology Research Unit, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Megan Spokas

  2. Adult Anxiety Clinic of Temple, Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Richard G. Heimberg

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  1. Megan Spokas
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  2. Richard G. Heimberg
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Correspondence to Megan Spokas.

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Portions of this paper were presented at the 41st annual meeting of the Association for Behavior and Cognitive Therapies, Philadelphia, PA, November 2007.

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Spokas, M., Heimberg, R.G. Overprotective Parenting, Social Anxiety, and External Locus of Control: Cross-sectional and Longitudinal Relationships. Cogn Ther Res 33, 543–551 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-008-9227-5

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