Maternal Acceptance Moderates Fear Ratings and Avoidance Behavior in Children

Abstract

Avoidance is a hallmark feature of anxiety disorders, and avoidance-related impairment is often key to meeting diagnostic criteria. In children and adolescents with anxiety disorders, levels of avoidance vary considerably. Using a novel motion-tracking measure of avoidance behavior, we examined whether maternal acceptance, characterized by warm and accepting responses to child feelings and behaviors, moderates the association between fear of spiders and behavioral avoidance of spider stimuli in 103 clinically anxious children. As hypothesized, maternal acceptance significantly moderated children's avoidance behavior. Child's fear of spiders was significantly associated with behavioral avoidance when mothers were low in acceptance, as rated by either mothers or children. When mothers were high in acceptance, as rated by either mothers or children, child self-rated fear of spiders was not significantly associated with child avoidance. These are the first results to empirically demonstrate the moderating role of maternal acceptance in anxious children's avoidance behavior.

The Effect of Theory-Based Education on the Promotion of Preventive Behavior Among Mothers, Concerning the Self-Medication for Children

“…The right or wrong behaviors are parts of the culture of every soci-ety. The readiness of people to learn and adopt the correct lifestyle for maintaining health in a society requires reforming their behaviors (18). In this study, the mean score of attitude was increased in the intervention group; however, this increase was not significant.…”