Telman, van Steensel, Maric, & Bögels (2018). What are the odds of anxiety disorders running in families? A family study of anxiety disorders in mothers, fathers, and siblings of children with anxiety disorders.” – Article summary

Children with an anxiety disorder are two to three times more likely to have at least one parent with current and lifetime anxiety disorders. Children with anxiety disorders were more likely to have parents with anxiety disorders but not siblings with anxiety disorders. A child is more likely to have social anxiety disorder or generalized anxiety disorder if the mother has either of those two disorders.

It appears as if parental anxiety shapes the way for a parenting style which contributes to the development of anxiety disorders in children. Over-controlling behaviour which limits the autonomy of the child could be one of these parenting styles. This could maintain a child’s inhibition and anxiety. However, children’s anxious behaviour could also elicit overcontrolling in parents. Parents’ anxious behaviour could also promote and maintain child anxiety through modelling (e.g. catastrophizing).

Treatments for child anxiety disorders appear to be less effective when a parent has an anxiety disorder. The role of mothers appears to be greater than the role of fathers in the development of anxiety disorders.

Diagnostic specificity states that children of anxious parents are at a greater risk to develop the same anxiety disorder as their parents because parents model or communicate specific anxieties to their children. However, it is not clear whether this is the case.

Children with anxiety disorders were not more likely to have mothers with a lifetime anxiety disorder but were more likely to have mothers with a current anxiety disorder. Children with anxiety disorders are not more likely to have parents with a lifetime depressive disorder. There appears to be evidence for specificity of social anxiety disorder and general anxiety disorder. Children with social anxiety disorder were more likely to have fathers with lifetime anxiety disorders but children with specific phobia were less likely to have fathers with lifetime anxiety disorders.

It appears as if there is specificity for both SAD and GAD and familial risk for some child anxiety disorders. The child susceptibility hypothesis states that some children who are genetically susceptible for the development of an anxiety disorder because of an anxious temperament are more likely to be affected by the consequences of living in a family with parental anxiety disorders than siblings who are not genetically susceptible.

The specificity of social anxiety disorder could be explained by the lack of social skills of the parents which are then modelled to the children. It could also be explained by the fathers showing less challenging parenting behaviour which is a risk factor for the child developing social anxiety. This implies that the father’s role is different from the mother’s in the development of social anxiety disorder. It might be that the father shows less emotional warmth and more rejection to socially anxious children, which leads to a bi-directional relationship.

It is likely that the specificity of general anxiety disorder is not transmitted through modelling. It is possible that mothers transmit the cognitive styles (e.g. coping styles) associated with general anxiety disorder to their children.