Department of Psychology, Miami University, Oxford, OH, 45056, USA.
Child Psychiatry Hum Dev. 2021 Apr;52(2):225-235. doi: 10.1007/s10578-020-01004-6.
Dysregulated fear (DF), display of high-fear in low-threat contexts, has been shown to predict child anxiety development. Maternal protective, comforting, and intrusive behaviors have also been linked to child anxiety development and may be candidate mechanisms linking DF to anxiety. First, the relation between DF (age 2) and child separation anxiety (age 4) as indirectly linked by maternal protective, comforting, and intrusive behaviors was investigated. Second, the relation between DF and social anxiety (age 4) through parenting behaviors was investigated. Results suggested DF significantly predicted child separation anxiety through maternal intrusive behaviors, above and beyond protective and comforting behaviors. Neither protective nor comforting parenting behavior served as indirect effects between DF and separation anxiety. No parenting behaviors were found to indirectly link the relation between DF and social anxiety. Results suggest that multiple parenting behaviors are involved as environmental mechanisms by which DF predicts separation anxiety.
失调性恐惧(DF),即在低威胁情境下表现出的高度恐惧,已被证明可预测儿童焦虑的发展。母亲的保护、安慰和过度干预行为也与儿童焦虑的发展有关,并且可能是将 DF 与焦虑联系起来的候选机制。首先,研究了 DF(2 岁)与儿童分离焦虑(4 岁)之间的关系,这种关系是通过母亲的保护、安慰和过度干预行为间接联系起来的。其次,研究了 DF 通过养育行为与社交焦虑(4 岁)之间的关系。结果表明,DF 通过母亲的过度干预行为显著预测了儿童的分离焦虑,而保护和安慰行为则不然。在 DF 和分离焦虑之间,没有一种养育行为起到间接作用。也没有发现养育行为可以将 DF 与社交焦虑之间的关系联系起来。结果表明,多种养育行为是 DF 预测分离焦虑的环境机制。