Parenting strategies and socio-cultural influences in childhood anxiety: Mexican, Latin American descent, and European American families

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Abstract

This study examined the relationship between anxiety in Latin American children and Latino cultural schemas, parenting strategies, being an ethnic minority, and assimilation. Latin American (n = 72; LA) and white European-American (n = 46; EA) children living in the U.S., Mexican children living in Mexico (n = 99; M), and at least one parent per family (n = 283) were administered measures assessing anxiety, parenting strategies, collectivism, family cohesion, simpatia, parent–child communication, and assimilation. M and LA children expressed more anxiety symptoms than EA children. More mother control and less father acceptance were associated with childhood anxiety across all three groups. However, father control was associated with more anxiety for the EA group but not the MA group, and mother acceptance was associated with more anxiety for the EA and MA groups but with less anxiety for the M group. Family cohesion was negatively associated with children's anxiety independent of ethnic group. Finally, differing from parents in assimilation did not influence LA children's anxiety.

Section snippets

Current study

To date, the majority of research that examines influence of parenting on anxiety development has compared children with anxiety disorders and children with no psychopathology (Wood et al., 2003). Although this research has advanced our understanding of anxiety development in extreme forms (e.g., clinically diagnosed), determining if established links between parenting and child anxiety exist in normative samples is an important first step in establishing whether such influences could lead to

Hypotheses

Due to the cultural similarities between LAs and Ms, and based on the literature, we expected these two groups would be similar in parenting strategies, and cultural schemas. Based on the literature, Mexican and LA parents were expected to be more controlling than the EA parents, but the three groups were not expected to differ in warmth and acceptance. Regarding cultural influences on anxiety, we examined whether simpatia, collectivism, a strong family orientation, and low family communication

Participants

Two-hundred seventeen 7–16-year-old children (age M = 11.27, SD = 5.52) and at least one of their caregivers participated in the study. Ninety-nine youth were Mexican (M: 88 mothers, 24 fathers), 72 were Latin American (LA) living in the U.S. (57 Central American descent, 11 Mexican American, 4 a mixture of both: 64 mothers, 34 fathers), and 46 were European American (EA: 44 mothers, 29 fathers). The groups did not differ in gender composition, χ2 (2) = 5.82, p = ns. The M children were younger than

Group comparisons of anxiety, cultural schemas, and parenting practices

After controlling for children's age and SES, between-group differences were found for several variables (Table 1) including child-reported Total anxiety scores, F (2, 208) = 5.65, p < .01, η2 = .05, and mother-reported Total anxiety scores, F (2, 186) = 5.18, p < .01, η2 = .05. Pair-wise comparisons indicated that M and LA children reported more total anxiety symptoms than the EA children and the same pattern was found for mother report of children's anxiety.

In terms of cultural schemas, between-group

Discussion

An abundance of research suggests cultural phenomena as the agency of variability in the experience and expression of emotions including anxiety. Latin American children, in particular, have been shown to be at risk for anxiety problems, yet very little is known about how cultural characteristics or context-related variables may influence anxiety development in this population. In the present study, we examined whether Latino cultural schemas, parenting, and engagement in the assimilation

Acknowledgements

This study was funded by grant Louisiana Board of Regents Support Fund Research Competitiveness Subprogram LEQSF [2003-05]-RD-A-27 awarded to R. Enrique Varela. Additional support was provided by grants awarded to R. Enrique Varela from the Newcomb Foundation, Tulane University, and the Stone Center for Latin American Studies, Tulane University. We are grateful to all the families who participated in this study and to all the principals and teachers who assisted in the recruitment process.

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