The effect of maternal psychopathology on parent-child agreement of child anxiety symptoms: A hierarchical linear modeling approach

Abstract

The current study examined the effects of maternal anxiety, worry, depression, child age and gender on mother and child reports of child anxiety using hierarchical linear modeling. Participants were 73 mother-child dyads with children between the ages of 7 and 10 years. Reports of child anxiety symptoms, including symptoms of specific disorders (e.g., social phobia) were obtained using concordant versions of the Screen for Anxiety and Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED). Children reported significantly higher levels of anxiety symptoms relative to their mothers. Maternal worry and depression predicted for significantly lower levels of maternal-reported child anxiety and increasing discrepant reports. Maternal anxiety predicted for higher levels of maternal-reported child anxiety and decreasing discrepant reports. Maternal depression was associated with increased child-reported child anxiety symptoms. No significant effect of child age or gender was observed. Findings may inform inconsistencies in previous studies on reporter discrepancies. Implications and future directions are discussed.

Keywords: Child anxiety; Development; Parent-report; Parent–child agreement; Psychopathology.