Learning processes associated with panic-related symptoms in families with and without panic disordered mothers.
The present study compared learning processes associated with panic-related symptoms in families with and without panic disordered mothers. Using a multi-informant approach, 86 mothers [of whom 58 had a primary diagnosis of panic disorder (PD)], their partners and teenage children (mean age, 16.67 years) reported about parents' behavior (modeling and operant learning) in response to children's and parents' experience of panic-related symptoms. Both, maternal and child reports revealed that mothers with PD were more likely to show panic-maintaining behavior and to involve their children in their own experience of panic-related symptoms than mothers without PD. Mothers with PD reported more often to be punished by others for their experience of panic-related symptoms than mothers without PD. Conversely, parent and child reports did not reveal differences between parents' reactions to their children's experience of panic-related symptoms in families with and without a PD mother. Given that mothers with PD were reported to behave differently in relation to their own experience of panic-related symptoms but not in relation to their children's experience of panic-related symptoms, the present study offers preliminary evidence that modeling, rather than operant learning, might affect children's sensitivity to somatic symptoms.
Department of Psychology, University of Basel, Missionsstrasse 60/62, 4003, Basel, Switzerland.
Jiske E G
JE
de Albuquerque
Simone
S
Munsch
Jürgen
J
Margraf
Silvia
S
Schneider
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016584:Panic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult