The influence of family and experimental context on cognition in anxious children

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.