Research Paper

Parenting Style and Child Anxiety

Author: Corina Dobre, Diana Rădulescu, Simona Gabor, Ana Maria Gherasim, Raluca Vas
Titu Maiorescu University, Bucharest, Romania
Email: corina.dobre0@gmail.com

This study's main objective is to examine the relationship between parenting style of parents experienced when they were children (in this research called "original") and the parenting style they use in relation to their children (called "current"). Another objective is investigating the subscales of parenting style, such as "care", "overprotection", "involvement" and "empowerment” and how they relate to a number of specific forms of child anxiety.

The battery of tests was applied to a group of children aged between 8 and 11 years (n = 30, M= 9.87; SD=1.37) who completed anxiety questionnaires and scales of evaluating the current parenting style perception. Their parents completed a questionnaire that highlights native parenting characteristics.

The results reveal the existence of statistically significant negative correlations between the child’s separation anxiety and his mother involvement. Also, in terms of the original parenting, it showed that child separation anxiety is negatively correlated with the maternal care received from his mother, and the care received from the mother from both her parents.

There were highlighted also statistically significant correlations between child’s social phobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder and his father overprotection. Agoraphobia negatively correlated with "care", that relates to the original parenting style.


Keywords: parenting style, child's anxiety, overprotection, autonomy, care.