title: Maternal anxiety and child fear during dental procedures: a preliminary study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to assess the levels of dental fear, state anxiety, and physiological distress in children and their mothers during pediatric dental procedures and to investigate the associations between these variables.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty children and their mothers who visited six pediatric dental clinics in Tokyo, Japan, participated in this study. Dental fear was assessed using the dental subscale of the Children's Fear Survey Schedule (CFSS-DS) and the Dental Fear Survey. Children completed the pre- and post-treatment State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children-State (STAIC-S), and mothers completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-State (STAI-S). Pre- and post-treatment salivary alpha amylase (sAA) levels were measured to assess physiological distress. Paired t tests and Pearson's correlation coefficients were used for statistical analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  State anxiety scores and sAA levels significantly differed between pre- and post-treatment in mothers (P=.007 and P<.02, respectively) but not in children. Pretreatment STAI-S scores in mothers were correlated with CFSS-DS scores in children (r=.348, P<.03), but pretreatment STAI-S and STAIC-S scores were not.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Maternal anxiety before children's dental treatment was significantly associated with children's dental fear.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Dentistry, School of Life Dentistry, Nippon Dental University, Tokyo, Japan. h-karibe@tky.ndu.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Karibe
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Dentistry, School of Life Dentistry, Nippon Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Kyoko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Aoyagi-Naka
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Dentistry, School of Life Dentistry, at Nippon Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Arisa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Koda
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D016854:Dental Anxiety; D019140:Dental Care for Children / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D011594:Psychometrics; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires