Fears in clinic-referred children: relations with child anxiety sensitivity, maternal overcontrol, and maternal phobic anxiety

Relations among maternal phobic anxiety, maternal overcontrol, child anxiety sensitivity, and child level of fear were explored in 156 children referred to an outpatient clinic for psychological evaluation. In addition, these relations were examined separately in analyses of age, gender, and diagnostic status. Overall, age, gender, and child anxiety sensitivity, along with maternal ratings of an overly controlling parenting strategy were significant predictors of levels of fear. These four variables predicted approximately 50% of the variance associated with fear levels. Surprisingly, maternal phobic anxiety was not a significant predictor in this sample of clinic-referred children. In separate analyses of age, gender, and diagnostic status (presence or absence of an anxiety disorder), anxiety sensitivity was a significant predictor of fear levels for both older and younger children, for both boys and girls, and for both children with and without an anxiety disorder. However, maternal overly controlling parenting strategy was significant only for the younger children (and not the older ones) and only for girls (and not boys). Moreover, maternal overcontrol was a marginally significant predictor for the anxiety-disorder group (and not the non-anxiety-disordered group). Results are discussed within a developmental framework, and implications for treatment are explored.     

Shyness and informal help-seeking behavior

The present study examined whether shy individuals are more reluctant to seek help than less shy individuals. A sample of 48 undergraduates (46% men, Mage=20.6 yr.) were selected from a pool of 72 students based on their relatively high or low scores on the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale. They were then exposed to a situation involving an impossible task, on which they had the option of seeking assistance. Analysis indicated that participants scoring high on Shyness took significantly more time to seek help than participants scoring low. This result suggests that even when help is readily available, shy individuals may refrain from seeking it. Presumably, shy people may be reluctant to seek help because that often requires them to initiate a social interaction.     

Mindfulness facets,trait emotional intelligence,emotional distress,and multiple health behaviors: A serial two‐mediator model

In the present study, we tested a serial mindfulness facets‐trait emotional intelligence (TEI)‐emotional distress‐multiple health behaviors mediation model in a sample of N = 427 German‐speaking occupational therapists. The mindfulness facets‐TEI‐emotional distress section of the mediation model revealed partial mediation for the mindfulness facets Act with awareness (Act/Aware) and Accept without judgment (Accept); inconsistent mediation was found for the Describe facet. The serial two‐mediator model included three mediational pathways that may link each of the four mindfulness facets with multiple health behaviors. Eight out of 12 indirect effects reached significance and fully mediated the links between Act/Aware and Describe to multiple health behaviors; partial mediation was found for Accept. The mindfulness facet Observe was most relevant for multiple health behaviors, but its relation was not amenable to mediation. Implications of the findings will be discussed.