Fathers' role in the etiology, prevention and treatment of child anxiety: A review and new model

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Abstract

Fathers have been neglected in investigations of the development, prevention, and treatment of anxiety and anxiety disorders in children and adolescents. This review provides a historical background of what is known about fathers' roles in the etiology of anxiety problems and provides evidence from bottom-up, top-down, and cross-sectional correlation studies of the connections between fathers' and their children's anxiety. Treatment and prevention programs are discussed in terms of the limited findings regarding fathers' involvement in treatment for children's and adolescents' anxiety problems. Finally, a model is presented to show the unique ways in which mothers and fathers are involved in the development of anxiety disorders in their children. Future directions for research in this area are highlighted.

Section snippets

Fathers’ role in normal development in children: do fathers matter?

We review four aspects of the paternal role, which seem relevant in the context of understanding fathers' roles in the development of child anxiety: (1) play, (2) attachment, (3) closeness/involvement, and (4) their indirect role through their influence on the mother.

The role of the father in child psychopathology

A review of Phares and Compas (1992) pointed out substantial evidence for a relationship of paternal psychopathology and other paternal factors, such as paternal-child interaction, with child externalizing disorders. To illustrate, Amato and Rivera (1999) found that in a large study of 994 households, higher paternal involvement was associated with less behavior problems as rated by mothers in their children, even after correcting for maternal involvement. This study demonstrated that fathers

Fathers' involvement in the treatment of childhood anxiety

Parents are not always included in the treatment of developmental psychopathology. This section will first discuss the lack of parental involvement in treatment of developmental psychopathology in general and then will address the specific lack of involvement of parents in the treatment of childhood anxiety disorders. Next, fathers' involvement in the treatment of the wide variety of types of developmental psychopathology will be addressed, followed by an exploration of fathers' involvement in

Discussion and model

The empirical evidence for the role of the father in the etiology, prevention and treatment of childhood anxiety was reviewed. The following conclusions can be drawn: (I) Fathers have been neglected in research on the etiology, prevention and treatment of childhood anxiety; (II) research on normal development suggests that fathers play an important and different role than mothers in the socialization of children and in the protection against severe anxiety; (III) research in the area of

Acknowledgement

This paper was supported by an NWO-VIDI grant, number 452-05-345 to the first author.

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