Parental anxiety disorders, child anxiety disorders, and the perceived parent-child relationship in an Australian high-risk sample

This study was designed to explore the role of perceived parenting behavior in the relationship between parent and offspring anxiety disorders in a hi gh-risk sample of adolescents. We examined the relationship between parenta l and child anxiety disorders and tested whether perceived parenting behavi or acted as a mediator between these variables. Analyses were performed on a high-risk sample of 816 fifteen-year-olds drawn from a birth cohort in Qu eensland, Australia. Parental depression and income were covaried. Maternal anxiety disorder significantly predicted the presence of anxiety disorders in children; the association between paternal anxiety disorder and child a nxiety disorder was not significant. There was no evidence that perceived p arenting played a mediating role in the association between mother and chil d anxiety disorders. These results replicate earlier studies' findings of e levated rates of anxiety disorders among the offspring of anxious patents, but only when the child's mother is the anxious parent.