Parental anxiety in the treatment of childhood anxiety: a different story three years later.
This study reports on the results of a long-term follow-up of 60 (29 girls and 31 boys, all of Caucasian ethnicity) children and adolescents diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and treated 3 years earlier with child-focused cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) or child-focused CBT plus parental anxiety management (PAM). Sixty-seven children aged 7 to --14 years were assigned to either the "child anxiety only" or the "child + parental anxiety" condition based on parents' trait anxiety scores. Within conditions, participants were randomly assigned to one of the two treatment conditions. Results indicated that at follow-up, parental anxiety did not represent a risk factor for children's treatment outcome. In addition at follow-up, children who received the combined CBT + PAM intervention (regardless of parental anxiety status) were significantly more likely to be anxiety diagnosis free compared with children who received the child-focused CBT intervention only.
Cobham
Vanessa E
VE
School of Psychology, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland 4067, Australia. vanessa@psy.uq.edu.au
Dadds
Mark R
MR
Spence
Susan H
SH
McDermott
Brett
B
D000293:Adolescent; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D002648:Child; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome