Parental internalizing symptoms as predictors of anxiety symptoms in clinic-referred children

BACKGROUND: Mothers’ and fathers’ internalizing symptoms may influence children’s anxiety symptoms differently. OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship between parental internalizing symptoms and children’s anxiety symptoms in a clinical sample of children with anxiety disorders. METHOD: The sample was recruited through community mental health clinics for a randomized controlled anxiety treatment trial. At pre-intervention, children (n = 182), mothers (n = 165), and fathers (n = 72) reported children’s anxiety symptoms. Mothers and fathers also reported their own internalizing symptoms. The children were aged 8 to 15 years (M(age) = 11.5 years, SD = 2.1, 52.2% girls) and all had a diagnosis of separation anxiety, social phobia, and/or generalized anxiety disorder. We examined parental internalizing symptoms as predictors of child anxiety symptoms in multiple regression models. RESULTS: Both mother and father rated internalizing symptoms predicted children’s self-rated anxiety levels (adj. R(2) = 22.0%). Mother-rated internalizing symptoms predicted mother-rated anxiety symptoms in children (adj. R(2) = 7.0%). Father-rated internalizing symptoms did not predict father-rated anxiety in children. CONCLUSIONS: Clinicians should incorporate parental level of internalizing symptoms in their case conceptualizations.