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Cited by 34Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional DevelopmentAnxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive ProcessesMaternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum

The Role of Experiential Avoidance and Parental Control in the Association Between Parent and Child Anxiety

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Emerson, Lisa-Marie, Ogielda, Claire, Rowse, Georgina·2019·Frontiers in Psychology
DOI 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00262PMC PMC6387941
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Abstract

Parenting behavior and practices contribute to the intergenerational relationship between parent and child anxiety, with parental control being a consistent predictor of child anxiety. Parental experiential avoidance refers to how a parent copes with their internal world in the context of parenting. Little is known about how this relatively new parenting concept relates to child anxiety. The current study tested the indirect effect of parent anxiety on child anxiety through parental control and parental experiential avoidance; the indirect effect of parent anxiety on parental control through parental experiential avoidance; and the moderating effect of parental experiential avoidance on the relationship between parental control and child anxiety. Using a cross-sectional design, parents (N = 85) from a community sample of 8-12-year-old children self-reported on a survey measuring parent anxiety, child anxiety, parental control, and parental experiential avoidance. A hierarchical regression indicated that parental experiential avoidance significantly predicted child anxiety and accounted for further variance in child anxiety, over and above parental control. There was an indirect effect of parent anxiety on child anxiety through parental control and parental experiential avoidance. Parental experiential avoidance moderated the relationship between parental control and child anxiety, such that the relationship was only significant at high levels of parental experiential avoidance. The current study provides support for the role of parental experiential avoidance in an intergenerational understanding of anxiety. Future research should replicate the study with a clinical sample. Theoretical and practice implications are considered.

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  • Lower parenting-specific psychological flexibility in the general population is associated with increased mental health problems in both caregivers and children.

    “Lower parenting-specific psychological flexibility in the general population is associated with increased mental health problems in both caregivers and children, decreased self-efficacy in caregivers and more externalising problems in children throughout childhood and adolescence (Biglan et al., 2015;Brassell et al., 2016;Emerson, Ogielda, & Rowse, 2019) and less effective caregiving practices (e.”

    From Psychological Flexibility in Caregivers of Children With Congenital Craniofacial Conditions in the United Kingdom. (2026) · cites this paper as Emerson, Ogielda, & Rowse, 2019

    The Results (Preliminary Analyses; page unavailable) show that parental experiential avoidance was associated with anxiety in both parents and children in a community sample of families with 8–12-year-old children. The paper does not establish associations with mental health problems broadly, caregiver self-efficacy, child externalising problems, or outcomes throughout adolescence. (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Parenting-specific psychological flexibility may be related to increased child wellbeing through the adoption of more adaptive parenting practices and styles, reduced parental control, and enhanced caregiver-child interactions.

    “Parenting-specific psychological flexibility may be related to increased child wellbeing through the adoption of more adaptive parenting practices and styles, reduced parental control and enhanced caregiver-child interactions (Biglan et al., 2015;Brassell et al., 2016;Emerson, Ogielda, & Rowse, 2019;Whittingham et al., 2019)”

    From Psychological Flexibility in Caregivers of Children With Congenital Craniofacial Conditions in the United Kingdom. (2026) · cites this paper as Emerson, Ogielda, & Rowse, 2019

    The Discussion reports that parental experiential avoidance and control are associated with child anxiety, and suggests that addressing avoidance could affect positive parenting and the parent–child relationship. It also says whether doing so improves child outcomes remains an open question. The claim extends this tentative, anxiety-focused account to child wellbeing generally and presents the proposed parenting pathway more definitively than the paper establishes. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Emerson, L.-M., Ogielda, C., & Rowse, G.
Affiliations
  • Griffith University (AU)
  • University of Sheffield (GB)
Corresponding author
Emerson, Lisa-Marie
ORCID
Venue
Frontiers in Psychology
Publisher
Frontiers Media SA
Published
2019-02-18
Volume
10
Pages
262-262
ISSN
1664-1078 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00262
PMC
PMC6387941
OpenAlex
W2915178081
Cited by
34
References
9
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 3
FWCI
3.21
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Frontiers in Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • White Rose Research Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York) (acceptedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
  • Griffith Research Online (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
Keywords
experiential avoidance, parental control, parental anxiety, childhood anxiety, intergenerational transmission of anxiety, parental behavior, moderating effect, mediation, children aged 8-12

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