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Parents' verbal communication and childhood anxiety: a systematic review

Parents' verbal communication and childhood anxiety: a systematic review
Parents' verbal communication and childhood anxiety: a systematic review
Parents’ verbal communication to their child, particularly the expression of fear-relevant information (e.g., attributions of threat to the environment), is considered to play a key role in children’s fears and anxiety. This review considers the extent to which parental verbal
communication is associated with child anxiety by examining research that has employed objective observational methods. Using a systematic search strategy, we identified 15 studies that addressed this question. These studies provided some evidence that particular fearrelevant
features of parental verbal communication are associated with child anxiety under certain conditions. However, the scope for drawing reliable, general conclusions was limited by extensive methodological variation between studies, particularly in terms of the features of parental verbal communication examined and the context in which communication took
place, how child anxiety was measured, and inconsistent consideration of factors that may moderate the verbal communication-child anxiety relationship. We discuss ways in which future research can contribute to this developing evidence base and reduce further methodological inconsistency so as to inform interventions for children with anxiety
problems.
child anxiety, parenting, verbal communication
1096-4037
1-21
Percy, R.
2c8af6b2-72aa-41a5-99a4-9aff445b597a
Creswell, C.
7c59386c-2c17-4461-a2a9-e690870d7433
Garner, M.
3221c5b3-b951-4fec-b456-ec449e4ce072
O'Brien, D.
8a0379b8-121b-45c8-bd4d-b939b160a149
Murray, L.
bfd60879-aefc-4bb8-abc2-9c10f1646a57
Percy, R.
2c8af6b2-72aa-41a5-99a4-9aff445b597a
Creswell, C.
7c59386c-2c17-4461-a2a9-e690870d7433
Garner, M.
3221c5b3-b951-4fec-b456-ec449e4ce072
O'Brien, D.
8a0379b8-121b-45c8-bd4d-b939b160a149
Murray, L.
bfd60879-aefc-4bb8-abc2-9c10f1646a57

Percy, R., Creswell, C., Garner, M., O'Brien, D. and Murray, L. (2015) Parents' verbal communication and childhood anxiety: a systematic review. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 1-21. (doi:10.1007/s10567-015-0198-2). (PMID:26613935)

Record type: Article

Abstract

Parents’ verbal communication to their child, particularly the expression of fear-relevant information (e.g., attributions of threat to the environment), is considered to play a key role in children’s fears and anxiety. This review considers the extent to which parental verbal
communication is associated with child anxiety by examining research that has employed objective observational methods. Using a systematic search strategy, we identified 15 studies that addressed this question. These studies provided some evidence that particular fearrelevant
features of parental verbal communication are associated with child anxiety under certain conditions. However, the scope for drawing reliable, general conclusions was limited by extensive methodological variation between studies, particularly in terms of the features of parental verbal communication examined and the context in which communication took
place, how child anxiety was measured, and inconsistent consideration of factors that may moderate the verbal communication-child anxiety relationship. We discuss ways in which future research can contribute to this developing evidence base and reduce further methodological inconsistency so as to inform interventions for children with anxiety
problems.

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More information

e-pub ahead of print date: 27 November 2015
Keywords: child anxiety, parenting, verbal communication
Organisations: Clinical Neuroscience

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 383990
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/383990
ISSN: 1096-4037
PURE UUID: c0a7265e-bd7c-4443-b338-f68e29823450
ORCID for M. Garner: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-9481-2226

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Date deposited: 01 Dec 2015 14:15
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:12

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Contributors

Author: R. Percy
Author: C. Creswell
Author: M. Garner ORCID iD
Author: D. O'Brien
Author: L. Murray

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