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Marital Quality, Family Patterns, and Children's Fears and Social Anxiety

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Abstract

This study examined relationships among marital quality, family patterns, and children's fears, and social anxiety. Two types of family patterns were studied, adaptability and cohesion. Mothers of children aged 5–6, drawn from kindergartens in northern Israel, completed Hebrew versions of the ENRICH scale (abridged, for marital quality), FACES-III (adaptability and cohesion), the FSSC-R (fears), and the SASC-R (social anxiety). Family cohesion was negatively correlated with marital quality and positively correlated with children's social anxiety. Marital quality and family adaptability were inversely related to specific children's fears. Children's social anxiety was highly correlated with specific fears. These findings suggest that children from rigid, fused families or low quality marriages may be at risk for high levels of fears and social anxiety.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Haifa, Faculty of Education, Mt. Carmel, 31905, Israel

    Ora Peleg-Popko

  2. Department of Psychology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Reuven Dar

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  1. Ora Peleg-Popko
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  2. Reuven Dar
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Peleg-Popko, O., Dar, R. Marital Quality, Family Patterns, and Children's Fears and Social Anxiety. Contemporary Family Therapy 23, 465–487 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013057129790

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