As I See or Do? Exploring Parental Perceptions of and Magnifying Responses to Children’s Anxiety Symptoms

This study aimed to explore the dyadic influence of maternal and paternal perceptions of children’s anxiety and parents’ emotion socialization behavior across childhood. Participants were 206 mothers and fathers of preschool-aged children (91 females) recruited from a larger community-based longitudinal study and assessed when children were four, eight, and eleven years old. Anxiety was assessed using the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale, and parental tendencies to respond to children’s anxiety with similar or more intense levels of anxiety (i.e., magnification) were assessed using the Responses to Child’s Emotions Scale. Results from an actor-partner interdependence model analysis suggest (1) stability in maternal and paternal perceptions and behaviors across childhood; (2) paternal perceptions of children’s anxiety at age four positively predict maternal and paternal magnifying behaviors at age eight; and (3) maternal magnifying behaviors at age eight positively predict fathers’ magnifying behaviors at age eleven. Overall, results suggest that mothers and fathers may influence each other’s responses to children’s anxiety in different ways. Mothers appear to be influenced primarily by paternal perceptions of their children, whereas fathers appear to be influenced more directly by maternal behaviors.