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Perceived family environments of depressed and anxious children: Child's and maternal figure's perspectives

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Abstract

This study examined perceived environment among families with a depressed, depressed and anxious, anxious, or normal child from the 4th to 7th grades. Fifty-one such children were classified according to criteria from the K- SADS and a set of self-ratings of depression and anxiety. Results showed that children in all three diagnostic groups, and to a lesser extent their mothers, experienced their families as more distressed on a host of dimensions relative to controls. In addition, significant differences were found between families with a depressed and anxious child and those with an anxious child. Discriminant function analyses revealed that 68.63 % of the youngsters could be classified correctly into depressed and anxious groups on the basis of their family ratings alone.

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Stark, K.D., Humphrey, L.L., Crook, K. et al. Perceived family environments of depressed and anxious children: Child's and maternal figure's perspectives. J Abnorm Child Psychol 18, 527–547 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00911106

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00911106

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