(PS8-A23) Family Accommodation and Child Anxiety: Should Parenting Interventions Target Preschoolers with High Dysregulated Fear?

Family accommodation, or caregivers changing routines to reduce child anxiety, predicts child anxiety severity (Lebowitz et al., 2013) and is the target of parenting interventions for child anxiety (Kagan et al., 2023). Biopsychosocial theories suggest that children with certain temperaments may be more susceptible to the parenting they receive (Belsky et al., 2007). Dysregulated fear (DF), a temperamental dimension reflecting high fear in low-threat contexts (e.g., elevated shyness during a play interaction; Buss et al., 2013), may be a predisposing factor that makes children more susceptible to anxiety within the context of family accommodation. Previous research indicates that high DF in toddlerhood predicts anxiety (Buss et al., 2013). However, research has not investigated high DF in preschoolers, despite many parenting interventions for child anxiety focusing on preschoolers (Rapee, 2013). High DF may only predict anxiety for children whose parents engage in high family accommodation, supporting the diathesis-stress model (Zuckerman, 1999). Conversely, children with high DF may have less anxiety when their parents engage in less accommodation and more anxiety when their parents engage in more accommodation, supporting the differential susceptibility model (Belsky et al., 2007). The current study will investigate these competing hypotheses by assessing the interaction between preschoolers’ DF and family accommodation in the prediction of anxiety one year later.  

Mother-child dyads (N = 88) participated in visits when children were 4 (T1) and 5 (T2) years old. At T1, mothers completed the Family Accommodation Scale (Lebowitz et al., 2013). Additionally, children’s shy behaviors were coded in two low-threat lab episodes at T1. During Stranger Approach, children spoke to an unfamiliar experimenter. During Compliments, children received compliments from a familiar experimenter. At T2, mothers completed the Preschool Anxiety Scale (Spence et al., 2001).

Bivariate correlations among T1 DF and family accommodation and T2 child anxiety revealed a significant correlation between family accommodation and child anxiety (r = .526, p< .001). Moderation analyses were conducted with a subsample of participants who had DF data (N = 40). The interaction between T1 DF and family accommodation was significant (b= .643, SE=.237, t= 2.711, p= .010), such that at low levels of family accommodation, DF at T1 predicted less child anxiety at T2 (X̄-1 SD, b= -.394, SE= .167, t= -2.360, p= .024); at mean levels of family accommodation, DF did not predict child anxiety (b= .008, SE= .084, t= .094, p= .925); and at high levels of family accommodation, DF predicted more child anxiety (X̄+1 SD, b= .410, SE= .174, t= 2.355, p= .024). Further DF coding will be completed by the conference to conduct moderation analyses with a larger sample (N = 135).

Findings suggest that high DF at the preschool-age may be a differential susceptibility factor. Children with high DF may be more susceptible to better and worse anxiety outcomes depending on their families’ levels of accommodation. Parenting interventions that address anxiogenic parenting behaviors (Rapee et al., 2013) may consider specifically targeting preschoolers with high DF.