Relation of Childhood Worry to Information-Processing Factors in an Ethnically Diverse Community Sample

Abstract

This study examined information-processing variables in relation to worry in a sample of 292 fifth-grade children from Caucasian, African American, and Hispanic backgrounds. Results revealed that worry was related to threat interpretations for hypothetical situations and, when stress level was not controlled, to higher estimates of future occurrence for perceived threatening situations and ineffective solution choices. In addition, environmental and individual factors such as stress, gender, and socioeconomic status (SES) were found to be important predictors of information-processing variables. Ethnicity did not predict children's information processing when stress level and SES were controlled; however, it interacted with worry to predict problem-solving confidence. The findings support the information-processing model for childhood anxiety in a nonreferred and ethnically diverse sample.

Parenting practices, interpretive biases, and anxiety in Latino children

“…Specifically, responses indicative of threat or danger to a scenario describing a child experiencing a funny feeling in his or her stomach on the way to school were associated with increased anxiety. Previous studies with Latino youth in community samples were inconsistent in their findings of such an association (Suarez-Morales & Bell, 2006; Varela et al, 2004b). It is possible that interpretive biases are only relevant in predicting anxiety in samples with wide ranging degrees of anxiety including severe forms, as was the case here.…”

“…To date, however, only two studies have examined threat interpretations in a cultural context, and both of these studies employed community samples (Suarez-Morales & Bell, 2006; Varela et al, 2004b). In a study conducted by Suarez-Morales and Bell (2006), African American, Latino, and White, non-Latino children were administered a measure of worry/oversensitivity and a measure of information processing including interpretation, subjective probability in judgments, and problem solving biases in response to ambiguous hypothetical situations. Findings indicated no differences in the manner in which worry related to interpretive biases between Latino and White, non-Latino children.…”

The Influence of Culture on Anxiety in Latino Youth: A Review

“…The children and parent anxious interpretations were not related to anxiety for any of the groups. In a second study conducted by Suarez-Morales and Bell (2006), Latino (n = 138), Caucasian (n = 88), and African American (n = 66) children were administered the Worry/Oversensitivity subscale of the RCMAS and the Children's Opinion of Everyday Life Events-Revised questionnaire (Suarez and Bell-Dolan 2001), a measure of information processing including interpretation, subjective probability in judgments, and problem solving biases in response to ambiguous hypothetical situations paralleling the work of Chorpita et al (1996) and Barrett et al (1996). There were no differences in the manner in which worry related to interpretive biases between Latino and Caucasian children.…”

A culturally-sensitive cognitive model of worry in African American youth.

“…Although our understanding of these models remains limited in African Americans, the limited available research suggests that empiricallysupported cognitive variables in representative and non-Hispanic Whites samples are similarly associated with worry in this population (Norton, 2005;Rucker et al, 2010;Suarez-Morales & Bell, 2006). As such, the proposed model hypothesizes that IU, information processing, NPO, and beliefs about worry serve as cognitive vulnerabilities to the development of worry in African American children.…”

“…American children have been historically underrepresented in worry research (APA, 2008;Chapman et al, 2009;Scott et al, 2002;Suarez-Morales & Bell, 2006). In order to address these limitations and elucidate the potential influence of cultural variables on worry development, the proposed model integrates a factor of sociocultural influence within an existing cognitive model of worry.…”