Direct and indirect pathways to middle childhood anxiety symptoms: The role of inherited risk, early childhood characteristics, and negative parenting

Hostile parenting in early childhood has been linked to increased child anxiety in the developmental literature. However, some genetically informed studies have shown that the covariation between negative parenting and child... [ view full abstract ]

Hostile parenting in early childhood has been linked to increased child anxiety in the developmental literature. However, some genetically informed studies have shown that the covariation between negative parenting and child anxiety is largely attributable to heritable influences. Thus, hostile parenting and child anxiety may be associated via gene-environment correlation (rGE). To rule out the presence of passive rGE, the present study examines whether hostile parenting during the preschool period is linked to increased middle childhood anxiety symptoms assessed via a diagnostic interview in a sample of parents and their adopted children. The present study examines data from the Early Growth and Development Study (Leve et al., 2013), a longitudinal parent-offspring adoption study (N = 561 children). Inherited vulnerability for psychopathology was indexed using a composite score created from structured diagnostic interviews administered to birth parents that capture lifetime internalizing, externalizing, and substance abuse symptoms. Toddler anxiety symptoms were assessed via adoptive parent report of the Internalizing T-Score on the Child Behavior Checklist at age 27 months and parents’ reports were averaged. Adoptive parents reported on their own hostile parenting when children were age 4.5 years using the Iowa Family Interaction Rating Scales. Middle childhood (M age = 7.37 years) generalized anxiety symptoms were assessed via the Preschool Age Psychiatric Assessment (PAPA), a clinical interview administered to one adoptive parent per family. Structural equation models exhibited good model fit (c² (2) = 0.01, p = ns; RMSEA = .00; CFI = 1.00; SRMR = .001) and indicated that toddler anxiety symptoms were directly related to middle childhood anxiety symptoms (β = .17, p < .01) and indirectly via hostile parenting at 4.5 years (β = .06, 95% CI [0.02, 0.10]). Inherited vulnerability for psychopathology was related to toddler anxiety symptoms (β = .12, p < .01) but was not related to hostile parenting or middle childhood anxiety symptoms. Together, results suggest that middle childhood anxiety symptoms have early developmental origins and evoke hostile parenting, which in turn leads to increased anxiety symptoms.

Leve, L. D., Neiderhiser, J. M., Shaw, D. S., Ganiban, J., Natsuaki, M. N., and Reiss, D. (2013). The Early Growth and Development Study: A prospective adoption study from birth through middle childhood. Twin Research and Human Genetics, 16(1), 412–423.