Examined the influence of family on anxious children's cognition. Research
by Barrett, Rapee, Dadds, and Ryan (1996) found anxious children reported i
ncreased avoidance after interacting with their parents. They labelled this
finding the FEAR effect-Family Enhancement of Avoidant Responses. Whilst s
ome subsequent studies have found similar results, others have not. These c
ontradictory findings question whether the direction of parental influence
on anxious children is determined by the perceived demands of the experimen
tal context. Anxious children (N = 101) and their parents were asked to int
erpret seven ambiguous situations and to discuss what their child would do
if the scenario actually occurred. Study I found that children in the anxio
us group and an externalizing control group were more likely to interpret a
mbiguous situations as threatening than nonclinic children were. Study 2 so
ught to examine changes in the children's responses from pre- to postfamily
discussion, and to identify variables associated with the FEAR effect in a
nxious families. Interestingly, anxious children whose families completed t
he discussion task after they (children) had been offered treatment were mo
re likely to show a FEAR effect than anxious families who completed the tas
k as part of assessment. Study 3 examined predictors of enhanced avoidance
in anxious families. Treatment context and maternal distress were correlate
d with the child's increased avoidance following family discussion. Limitat
ions of these studies and directions for future research are discussed.