Doll Play narratives about starting school in children of socially anxious mothers, and their relation to subsequent child school-based anxiety

Pass, L., Arteche, A., Cooper, P., Creswell, C. and Murray, L. (2012) Doll Play narratives about starting school in children of socially anxious mothers, and their relation to subsequent child school-based anxiety. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 40 (8). pp. 1375-1384. ISSN 0091-0627 doi: 10.1007/s10802-012-9645-4

Abstract/Summary

Background: Child social anxiety is common, and predicts later emotional and academic impairment. Offspring of socially anxious mothers are at increased risk. It is important to establish whether individual vulnerability to disorder can be identified in young children. Method: The responses of 4.5 year-old children of mothers with social phobia (N = 62) and non-anxious mothers (N = 60) were compared, two months before school entry, using a Doll Play (DP) procedure focused on the social challenge of starting school. DP responses were examined in relation to teacher reports of anxious-depressed symptoms and social worries at the end of the child’s first school term. The role of earlier child behavioral inhibition and attachment, assessed at 14 months, was also considered. Results: Compared to children of non-anxious mothers, children of mothers with social phobia were significantly more likely to give anxiously negative responses in their school DP (OR = 2.57). In turn, negative DP predicted teacher reported anxious-depressed and social worry problems. There were no effects of infant behavioral inhibition or attachment. Conclusion: Vulnerability in young children at risk of anxiety can be identified using Doll Play narratives.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/27904
Item Type	Article
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Interdisciplinary centres and themes > Winnicott Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Department of Psychology Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Anxiety and Depression in Young People (AnDY)
Publisher	Springer
Publisher Statement	The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com
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