Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2019The role of parenting behaviors, and their moderation by child temperament, in the development of child anxiety were examined using longitudinal data collected from mothers and their children (N=306) across the preschool period (3-5.5 years of age). Using hierarchical linear regression and regions of significance analyses, interactions were tested between affective parenting behaviors (warmth, negative affect), negative psychological control (intrusiveness) and positive behavioral control (scaffolding) and child fearfulness, across both general and novel/uncertain contexts, to gain better specificity in understanding when, and for which children, particular parenting behaviors contribute to continuities or discontinuities in child anxious behaviors. Parental negative affect and intrusiveness were hypothesized to predict higher later anxiety for temperamentally fearful children, whereas parental scaffolding was hypothesized to predict lower later anxiety for those same children. In contrast to hypotheses, parental warmth predicted lower child anxiety overall (main effect), and there was mixed support for interaction effects. As a secondary aim, parallel models predicting child depression symptoms were also conducted for comparison, to address empirically whether different parenting behaviors contribute uniquely to separable aspects of child internalizing problems. Implications for preventive approaches in parenting children at risk for anxiety, and for incorporating more direct parenting instruction in the context of child anxiety treatment, are discussed
