Child and adolescent anxiety: Longitudinal relations with family characteristics, peer social status, and social cognitions, and contrasts with aggressive children

The present study utilized a longitudinal design to explore predictors of anxiety in children and adolescents. Interviewers assessed 585 families through home interviews and questionnaire methods on early child temperament, family history of psychopathology, discipline practices, family violence, and proactive parenting. Children's social-information-processing (SIP) patterns were assessed with video vignettes and oral narratives depicting negative peer interactions at ages 5, 6, 7, 8, and 13. Sociometric status was assessed in children's classrooms at ages 5, 6, 7, and 8. Mothers, teachers, and children themselves rated anxiety and aggression outcomes at ages 8, 12, and 14. Bivariate correlations and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to explore the relationships among early parent and child risk factors, social information processing patterns, and behavioral outcomes.;The primary goal of the present study was to explore predictors of anxiety problems in children. An additional goal was to compare and contrast predictors of childhood anxiety with those for aggression. Regression analyses revealed the following: First, a family history of anxiety, peer rejection, female gender, and psychological control were the most significant predictors of child and adolescent anxiety. Second, a similar set of child and parenting characteristics predicted both anxiety and aggression outcomes. Third, the antecedents of anxiety unconfounded with aggression resembled those for anxiety confounded with aggression. Fourth, social information processing patterns did not mediate the relationship between early predictors and later anxiety. That is, early child and parenting characteristics predicted anxiety outcomes directly rather than acting through maladaptive social cognitions. Implications for intervention and future research are discussed.