The link between parenting and anxiety in childhood

I am a psychology student at Lancaster University and am working on a research project looking at the parenting styles of anxious parents and comparing them to none anxious parents, in a study entitled; Assessing the link between parenting and anxiety in childhood. Anxiety in childhood is a really hot topic in the research literature at the moment and requires a lot more work.

Under the supervision of Professor Charlie Lewis I am conducting a research study looking at parental descriptions of their interactions with their children.

If you:

* have a self-referred or diagnosed anxiety disorder
* are the parents of a child between 3 and 9 years old, and
* would be prepared to answer a few short questions

We would really like you to take part in our study. We are particularly keen to involve resident or involved fathers as well as mothers in this study. Fathers have often been neglected from this type of research for no good reason.

Taking part in this study will give you the opportunity to contribute to research which may help the better understanding of the development of anxiety in childhood, which in turn may contribute to the development of parental interventions.

You can participate face to face, over the phone and on the internet.

To find out more about the project and to take part online visit the following website: http://www.psych.lancs.ac.uk/research/p9.html


Nicholas Todd
Psychology Department
Lancaster University
Lancaster
LA1 4YF
email: [email protected]


This study has had full approval from the Lancaster University Ethics Committee.

The study end date is the 3rd of October 2008.


Thanks Everyone!

My parents were anxious and condescending and very conservative people, old fashioned, would fight with there siblings and their own parents so it was always a tense family upbringing....

sitting at the dinner table and having your elbows on the table would cause world war III, this was a daily event ...

he needed something to be angry about and he'd take it out on us ...

my dad would play games and pack hig bags and walk out the door a number of times because my sister came home later then expected from a party and forgot to call ...

I also know that my dad was a different person at work, light hearted and a joker who had respect from the people around him, which to me makes sense because i know deep down he's a great person and is very wise ..

so that is an influence that i'm exposed to, as opposed to care free, free-spirited fun loving, have a laugh and relaxed upbringing

there were great things about my parents though and i'll always appreceate their support and wisdom, but the only problem was the role model aspect of it and i understand my dad had a very difficult time with his parents and i think he used that as an excuse to act the same with me and my sister but without the violence, it was all psychological mind games and guilt trips, threats to be thrown out if i acted this or that way ...

constant lectures over nothing in particular, being half an hour late or forgetting to sweep a metre of pavement on the weekend would cause dad to lose the plot

it was a very hostile environment for a while there where i just lost all respect for my dad especially because of the supression of three-thinking on me, i was expected to just AGREE with his opinions on everything and any counter argument meant i was this horrible person ..

thats how it felt ..

Mum was always this chronic worrier, weak and hunched over and always feeling like she had to agree with dads opinions otherwise he's threaten to leave, dont get me wrong i love her but its what i noticed just generally from living under the same roof for 22 years, she typically used guilt to make a point in conversation and would use worry to full affect on me ...

So i had to face that existance at home then i'd go to school and had to struggle being chased around by the token bullies that had nothing better to do then to try and beat the crap out of me because i was a little more quiet then other people all together because being around people wasn't working for me at the time, or the wrong people were around me and i was unlucky

i was beaten up daily by people for a year, i'd fight back but that plus my home life made me want to run away from people so it seems natural reaction by me as a progression or a reaction to that way of life was to avoid parties and cliques or people

ive changed now days but it had an effect at the time on my mindset