Opvoedgedrag van ouders: wat is de relatie met angst bij kinderen? En speelt etnische achtergrond een rol?

Abstract

Anxiety symptoms can have a major impact on the daily lives of adolescents in which various life domains may be disrupted, such as school performance or peer relationships. Parenting behaviors (controlling and dismissive) may be possible risk factors that cause these anxiety symptoms. Whether the ethnic background of these families has a role in this relationship is still unknown. The current study investigated whether ethnicity has a moderating role for the relationship between parental parenting behavior and anxiety symptoms of children aged 8 to 18 years in the Netherlands. Participants were 95 children spread throughout the Netherlands with a mean age of 14.2 years (60% girls). Self-report questionnaires were used to measure "parenting behaviors" and "anxiety symptoms. The results of hierarchical regression analyses revealed that parenting behavior (rejecting and controlling) was a positive predictor of anxiety symptoms. Only for controlling parenting behavior were interaction effects found with ethnicity. It was concluded that more attention should be paid to ethnicity in relation to parenting and anxiety symptoms, with culture-sensitive working as a basis.