The impact of mothers’ trait anxiety on their expectations of approach-avoidance behaviour in anxious and non-anxious children

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Author(s)
Bell, Clare M
Waters, Allison M
Zimmer-Gembeck, Melanie J
Year published
2015
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This study investigated estimates of approach and avoidance behaviour in clinically anxious and non-anxious children, and whether mothers' expectations of their children's avoidance differed as a function of high trait anxiety (HTA) versus low trait anxiety (LTA). Participants were 62 clinically anxious and 60 non-anxious children aged 7–12 years and their mothers. Estimates of avoidance were obtained using an analogue task in which children and mothers were given threat and pleasant information about two novel animals and were asked to estimate children's avoidance of the threat animal's habitat when the threat animal was ...
View more >This study investigated estimates of approach and avoidance behaviour in clinically anxious and non-anxious children, and whether mothers' expectations of their children's avoidance differed as a function of high trait anxiety (HTA) versus low trait anxiety (LTA). Participants were 62 clinically anxious and 60 non-anxious children aged 7–12 years and their mothers. Estimates of avoidance were obtained using an analogue task in which children and mothers were given threat and pleasant information about two novel animals and were asked to estimate children's avoidance of the threat animal's habitat when the threat animal was present (threat condition) and absent (safe condition) from the habitat and when its presence was uncertain (ambiguous condition). Contrary to expectation, anxious children did not differ from controls in estimates of avoidance in any condition. However, relative to HTA mothers of anxious children and LTA mothers of non-anxious children, HTA mothers estimated greater approach behaviour by their non-anxious children in the threat condition. Findings suggest that mothers' expectations of children's approach-avoidance behaviour is influenced by both maternal and child factors.
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View more >This study investigated estimates of approach and avoidance behaviour in clinically anxious and non-anxious children, and whether mothers' expectations of their children's avoidance differed as a function of high trait anxiety (HTA) versus low trait anxiety (LTA). Participants were 62 clinically anxious and 60 non-anxious children aged 7–12 years and their mothers. Estimates of avoidance were obtained using an analogue task in which children and mothers were given threat and pleasant information about two novel animals and were asked to estimate children's avoidance of the threat animal's habitat when the threat animal was present (threat condition) and absent (safe condition) from the habitat and when its presence was uncertain (ambiguous condition). Contrary to expectation, anxious children did not differ from controls in estimates of avoidance in any condition. However, relative to HTA mothers of anxious children and LTA mothers of non-anxious children, HTA mothers estimated greater approach behaviour by their non-anxious children in the threat condition. Findings suggest that mothers' expectations of children's approach-avoidance behaviour is influenced by both maternal and child factors.
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Journal Title
Australian Journal of Psychology
Volume
67
Copyright Statement
© 2015 Australian Psychological Society. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: The Impact of Mothers’ Trait Anxiety on their Expectations of Approach-Avoidance Behaviour in Anxious and Non-Anxious Children, Australian Journal of Psychology, Vol. 67 (1), pp. 55-64, 2015 which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ajpy.12060. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving (http://olabout.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-828039.html)
Subject
Cognitive and computational psychology