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Effects of Parental Behavior on Child Anxiety Regulation

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ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00593515
Recruitment Status : Completed
First Posted : January 15, 2008
Last Update Posted : January 15, 2008
Sponsor:
Collaborator:
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Information provided by:
University of California, Los Angeles

Study Description
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Brief Summary:
Does parenting style affect emotion regulation among children who initially demonstrate high levels of fear and anxiety? Although recent correlational research has demonstrated a linkage between parental behaviors, such as excessive intrusiveness, and children's manifestations of fear and anxiety, it is not clear if parenting behaviors directly influence children's ability to regulate these emotions. Alternatively, these parental behaviors may be elicited by children who express fears and anxieties more frequently than other children do. Experimental research designs would offer a more definitive test of these competing explanations of the extant correlational findings. Intervention studies, in particular, can test whether experimentally manipulating current family interaction patterns affects children's ability to regulate emotion. This study provides a preliminary experimental test of the relationship between parental behavior and children's regulation of fear and anxiety. Some 40 clinically anxious youth, aged 6-13, were randomly assigned to a family intervention program for childhood anxiety problems, which includes extensive parent communication training, or a child intervention program without parent-training. By comparing these two interventions, we tested if it was possible to improve parenting behaviors—such as intrusiveness—through intensive parent-training, above and beyond the effects of involving children in a child intervention program. We then tested the impact of this change in parental behaviors on children's ability to regulate fear and anxiety. We hypothesized that parent-training would reduce intrusiveness, which would in turn improve children's anxiety outcomes.

Condition or disease Intervention/treatment Phase
Separation Anxiety Disorder Social Phobia Generalized Anxiety Disorder Behavioral: Family cognitive behavioral therapy Behavioral: Child-focused cognitive behavioral therapy Phase 2

Study Design
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Study Type : Interventional  (Clinical Trial)
Actual Enrollment : 40 participants
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single (Outcomes Assessor)
Primary Purpose: Treatment
Official Title: Effects of Parental Behavior on Child Anxiety Regulation
Study Start Date : March 2000
Actual Primary Completion Date : April 2004
Actual Study Completion Date : April 2004

Resource links provided by the National Library of Medicine

MedlinePlus related topics: Anxiety

Arms and Interventions
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Arm Intervention/treatment
Experimental: 1
Family CBT
 Behavioral: Family cognitive behavioral therapy
12-16 weekly sessions of family cognitive behavioral therapy, 60-80 minutes each
Active Comparator: 2
Child-focused CBT
 Behavioral: Child-focused cognitive behavioral therapy
12-16 weekly sessions of child-focused cognitive behavioral therapy, 60-80 minutes each


Outcome Measures
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Primary Outcome Measures :
  1. Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule--Child and Parent Versions [ Time Frame: Posttreatment ]

Secondary Outcome Measures :
  1. Multidimension Anxiety Scale for Children [ Time Frame: Posttreatment ]

Eligibility Criteria
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Ages Eligible for Study:   6 Years to 13 Years   (Child)
Sexes Eligible for Study:   All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:   No
Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

  • The child met DSM-IV criteria for a diagnosis of a principal anxiety disorder based on a semi-structured interview
  • The child was not taking any psychiatric medication at the initial assessment, or was taking a stable dose of psychiatric medication (i.e., at least one month at a stable dose prior to the baseline assessment), and
  • If medication was being used, families stated an intention to maintain that dose throughout the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • The child was currently in child-focused psychotherapy
  • The family was currently in family therapy or a parenting class
  • Either the child or the parents evidenced psychotic symptoms
  • The child began taking psychiatric medication or increased his/her dose of medication during the intervention, or
  • For any reason the child or parents appeared unable to participate in the intervention program.
Contacts and Locations
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Information from the National Library of Medicine

To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.

Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT00593515


Locations
United States, California
UCLA
Los Angeles, California, United States, 90095
Sponsors and Collaborators
University of California, Los Angeles
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Investigators
Principal Investigator: Jeffrey Wood, Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles
Principal Investigator: Marian Sigman, Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles
More Information
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Publications of Results:

Responsible Party: Jeffrey J. Wood, UCLA
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00593515     History of Changes
Other Study ID Numbers: 1F31MH064999 ( U.S. NIH Grant/Contract )
First Posted: January 15, 2008    Key Record Dates
Last Update Posted: January 15, 2008
Last Verified: January 2008

Additional relevant MeSH terms:
Disease
Anxiety Disorders
Phobia, Social
Anxiety, Separation
 Pathologic Processes
Mental Disorders
Phobic Disorders
Neurodevelopmental Disorders