Seeing the world through your parents' eyes: The role of biased cognitive processes in the intergenerational transmission of anxiety

Contains fulltext : 191732.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)Radboud University, 01 juni 2018Promotores : Becker, E.S., Hutschemaekers, G.J.M. Co-promotor : Klein, A.M.164 p

Perceived parental food controlling practices are related to obesogenic or leptogenic child life style behaviors

Contains fulltext : 76684.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)To better understand whether the parental food controlling practices pressure and restriction to eat are obesity preventing or obesity promoting, this study examined whether these parenting practices are related to other (food or non-food) areas that are generally regarded as obesogenic or leptogenic. Are these foods controlling practices more indicative of obesogenic or leptogenic child life style behaviors? In a sample of 7–12-year-old boys and girls (n = 943) the perceived parental food controlling practices were related to various measures for unhealthy life style. Using factor analysis we assessed whether there is a constellation of lifestyle behaviors that is potentially obesogenic or leptogenic. Remarkably, perceived parental restriction and pressure loaded on two different factors. Perceived parental restriction to eat had a negative loading on a factor that further comprised potential obesogenic child life style behaviors, such as snacking (positive loading), time spend with screen media (television or computer) (positive loadings) and frequency of fruit consumption (negative loading). Perceived parental pressure to eat had a positive loading on a factor that further comprised potential leptogenic life style behaviors such as frequency of eating a breakfast meal and sporting (positive loadings). It is concluded that low perceived parental restriction in regard to food may perhaps be a sign of more uninvolved ‘neglecting’ or indulgent parenting/obesogenic home environment, whereas high perceived parental pressure to eat may be sign of a more ‘concerned’ leptogenic parenting/home environment, though more research into style of parenting is needed.4 p

The spider anxiety and disgust screening for children: Reliability and validity of a screening for children

Item does not contain fulltextObjectives: Specific fears, such as fear of spiders, are often used as a model for studying the development of other fears because several studies suggest that the underlying processes of fear are similar. For the screening of spider fear in children, a good, fast, and reliable screening instrument is needed. Unfortunately, however, such an instrument does not appear to exist yet. Therefore, the purpose of this article was to develop a short, reliable, and valid questionnaire to assess spider fear and spider disgust in children, the Spider Anxiety and Disgust Screening for Children (SADS-C). Methods: In Study 1, we tested the items of the SADS-C. In Study 2, we tested the psychometric properties related to the validity and reliability of the SADS-C. In Study 3, we administered the SADS-C in a large sample in order to provide normative data. Results: The results indicate good validity and reliability of the SADS-C; it was able to predict Spider Phobia Questionnaire for Children-C, Screen for Child Anxiety-Related Emotional Disorders-animal, and Behavioural Assessment Test Scores. The studies were all community-based samples; none of the children were actually seeking help for their spider fear. Conclusions: The SADS-C is a suitable questionnaire for assessing spider fear and disgust in children and is very suitable for epidemiological studies or for the screening of children in experimental research for which there is currently no appropriate instrument.6 p

Biases in interpretation as a vulnerability factor for children of parents with an anxiety disorder

Item does not contain fulltextObjective: Children of parents with an anxiety disorder have a higher risk of developing an anxiety disorder than children of parents without an anxiety disorder. Parental anxiety is not regarded as a causal risk factor itself, but is likely to be mediated via other mechanisms, for example via cognitive factors. We investigated whether children of parents with an anxiety disorder would show an interpretation bias corresponding to the diagnosis of their parent. We also explored whether children's interpretation biases were explained by parental anxiety and/or children’s levels of anxiety. Method: In total, 44 children of parents with a panic disorder (PD), 27 children of parents with a social anxiety disorder (SAD), 7 children of parents with SAD/PD, and 84 children of parents without an anxiety disorder (controls) participated in this study. Parents and children filled out the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders (SCARED) questionnaire, and children performed two ambiguous scenario tasks: one with and one without video priming. Results: Children of parents with PD displayed significantly more negative interpretations of panic scenarios and social scenarios than controls. Negative interpretations of panic scenarios were explained by parental PD diagnosis and children’s anxiety levels. These effects were not found for children of parents with SAD. Priming did not affect interpretation. Conclusion: Our results showed that children of parents with PD have a higher chance of interpreting ambiguous situations more negatively than children of parents without anxiety disorders. More research is needed to study whether this negative bias predicts later development of anxiety disorders in children.9 p

The role of cognitive factors in childhood social anxiety: Social threat thoughts and social skills perception

Models of cognitive processing in anxiety disorders state that socially anxious children display several distorted cognitive processes that maintain their anxiety. The present study investigated the role of social threat thoughts and social skills perception in relation to childhood trait and state social anxiety. In total, 141 children varying in their levels of social anxiety performed a short speech task in front of a camera and filled out self-reports about their trait social anxiety, state anxiety, social skills perception and social threat thoughts. Results showed that social threat thoughts mediated the relationship between trait social anxiety and state anxiety after the speech task, even when controlling for baseline state anxiety. Furthermore, we found that children with higher trait anxiety and more social threat thoughts had a lower perception of their social skills, but did not display a social skills deficit. These results provide evidence for the applicability of the cognitive social anxiety model to children

Are socially anxious children really less liked, or do they only think so?

The purpose of this study was to examine the relation of social anxiety with self-perceived and peer-reported likability, while controlling for the possible influence of depression. In total, 586 children (7 to 13 years) completed questionnaires to measure social anxiety, self-assessed likability, and depression. Peer-reported likability was derived from sociometric data on likability. As expected, children with higher self-reported social anxiety perceived themselves as less liked by classroom peers than children with lower self-reported social anxiety. In reality, children with higher levels of social anxiety were more liked by peers than children with lower levels of social anxiety. Multilinear regression analyses indicated no confounding effect of depression: Social anxiety, but not depression, was a significant predictor of biased perceived likability. Correcting the discrepancy between objective versus subjective likability may be a crucial target in the prevention and treatment of social anxiety disorders in children