title: Family accommodation mediates the association between anxiety symptoms in mothers and children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The link between child anxiety and maternal anxiety has been well established but the factors underlying this association are not well understood. One potential factor is family accommodation, which describes ways in which parents change their behaviour to help a child avoid or alleviate anxiety. Family accommodation has been associated with greater symptom severity, more impairment and poorer treatment outcomes in the child. The aim of this study was to investigate whether maternal accommodation mediates the relation between parent and child anxiety.
  
  
  METHODS
  Mothers of children (N = 85) aged 7-17 years (M = 11.79) completed measures of their own anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI)), their child's anxiety (Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders (SCARED)), and family accommodation (Family Accommodation Scale Anxiety (FASA)). Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to test the mediational role of accommodation linking parent and child anxiety.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Family accommodation was found to significantly mediate the link between maternal anxiety and child anxiety.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results inform theory and imply that the development of interventions designed to target family accommodation may improve the prognosis of those diagnosed with paediatric anxiety disorders and youth with subclinical anxiety symptoms by reducing both parent and child anxiety.
authors.affiliation: a Texas Child Study Center , The University of Texas at Austin , Austin , Texas , USA.
authors.forename: Johnna D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Eli R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Lebowitz
authors.forename: Carla E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Marin
authors.forename: Kevin D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Stark
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009034:Mother-Child Relations / Q000523:psychology*; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*