Parenting Behaviours and Child Anxiety: A Narrative Synthesis of Experimental Studies and a Longitudinal Analysis of Bidirectional Associations

Scowen, Emilie (2025) Parenting Behaviours and Child Anxiety: A Narrative Synthesis of Experimental Studies and a Longitudinal Analysis of Bidirectional Associations. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent form of psychopathology amongst children and adolescents. Anxiety can significantly impair a child’s psychosocial development and can increase the risk of enduring anxiety difficulties or other psychiatric issues across the life span. Understanding aetiological factors is therefore important to facilitate the development of early prevention and intervention programmes. An environmental factor that remains of particular interest is parenting, due to the potential malleability of parenting behaviour and attitudes. Several theoretical models of child anxiety have suggested that certain parenting practices play a key role in shaping child anxiety. Multiple parenting behaviours have been examined empirically. Research has predominantly been cross-sectional in nature.

A systematic review synthesised experimental research from twenty studies, examining the relationship between manipulated parenting behaviours and child state anxiety. An empirical study retrospectively analysed secondary data from the Wellcome Trust Neuroscience in Psychiatry Network (NSPN) to examine the prospective bi-directional relationship between perceived parental overcontrol and adolescent social anxiety. This was examined while controlling for baseline measures, depression, sex and index of deprivation. Analysis was conducted using multiple imputation through chained equations and multiple linear regression models.

Findings indicate that manipulated parenting behaviours impact children’s anxiety across development, with some behaviours showing effects that persist beyond exposure. These findings suggest that parenting behaviours may be influential in the development of general anxiety in children from infancy to early adolescence. In contrast, the empirical study found no evidence of a bi-directional relationship. This suggests that the influence of parental overcontrol, may be less influential in older adolescents.

Moreover, findings suggest that parental involvement could be useful in the treatment of younger children who experience general anxiety symptoms. However, there is currently little evidence to suggest the utility of including parents in SAD treatment in older adolescents. Instead, findings of the empirical study indicate that treatment should focus on intrapersonal maintenance factors, rather than interpersonal.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
Depositing User:	Chris White
Date Deposited:	30 Oct 2025 09:03
Last Modified:	30 Oct 2025 09:03
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/100850
DOI:

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