Does the Parent–Child Relationship Contribute to Children's and Parents’ Anxiety?

Abstract

This study explored which parent-child relationship factors are most important in predicting children's and parents' anxiety. The participants were 52 fathers, 52 mothers, 30 sons and 30 daughters. Parents completed a measure of anxiety and a measure of the parent-child relationship. Children completed two measures of anxiety. Mothers' communication was found to be the only significant predictor of sons' anxiety. Daughters' anxiety was significantly predicted by fathers' communication and mothers' satisfaction with parenting. These findings signal the important role the opposite-sex parent has in children's anxiety. Moreover, feeling supported as a parent and having the ability to communicate effectively with their children are important predictors of parents' wellbeing.

Examination of Anxiety Levels of 48-72 Months Children in Terms of Demographic Variables of Fathers and Children

“…Considering the existing studies on this subject, studies concerning the anxiety of children are generally conducted with mothers (Alisinanoğlu & Ulutaş, 2003;Stone et al, 2015) or with both parents (Güngör et al, 2016;Laurin et al, 2015;Matthewson et al, 2012;Verhoeven et al, 2012). But studies with only fathers (Gürsoy et al, 2017;Topaloğlu, 2013) seem to be limited.…”