create an annotated bibliography and an outline, two documents that will help you create your research paper due in week 7.
Attached Files:
Annotated Bibliography APA Style.pdf (145.483 KB)
Your major project (due week 7) will be a literature review on a topic related to your psychology program. You will develop this paper in stages during Weeks 5, 6, and 7.
According to the APA manual (p. 10),
“Literature reviews, including research syntheses and meta-analyses, are critical evaluations of material that has already been published. In meta-analyses, authors use quantitative procedures to statistically combine the results of studies. By organizing, integrating,and evaluating previously published material, authors of literature reviews consider the progress of research toward clarifying a problem. In a sense, literature reviews are tutorials, in that authors
- define and clarify the problem;
- summarize previous investigations to inform the reader of the state of research;
- identify relations, contradictions, gaps, and inconsistencies in the literature; and
- suggest the next step or steps in solving the problem.
The components of literature reviews can be arranged in various ways (e.g., by grouping research based on similarity in the concepts or theories of interest, methodological similarities among the studies reviewed, or the historical development of the field).”
For this assignment, you will create an annotated bibliography and an outline, two documents that will help you create your research paper due in week 7.
- The annotated bibliography should be formatted using the example provided. For this week you are only required to have 5 peer-reviewed articles in your annotated bibliography, but you will need a total of 10 articles for your first draft in Week 6 and your final paper in Week 7.
- The outline should include your paper topic and the anticipated sections for your paper (no more than 3 main sections). Under each area include detailed information, including the purpose of that section in relation to the paper. This outline is not complete or final, but should provide enough detailed information so that you may receive helpful feedback for this paper.
ORIGINAL PAPER
Anxiety Symptoms in African American Children: Relations with Ethnic Pride, Anxiety Sensitivity, and Parenting
Calonie M. K. Gray • Rona Carter •
Wendy K. Silverman
Published online: 2 October 2010
� Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010
Abstract This cross-sectional study examined the rela-
tions among children’s ethnic pride, perceived parenting
behavior (i.e., parental control, parental acceptance), anx-
iety sensitivity, and child anxiety symptoms (i.e., physical
symptoms, social anxiety symptoms, separation anxiety
symptoms, and harm avoidance symptoms) in 266 African
American school children (M = 9.98 years old; 55% girls).
Structural equation modeling results indicated that high
ethnic pride was associated with high parental acceptance.
High perceived parental acceptance, in turn, was related to
children reporting low levels of social anxiety symptoms
and high levels of harm avoidance. In addition, high
parental control was related to high anxiety sensitivity.
Anxiety sensitivity partially mediated the relation between
parental control and separation anxiety symptoms, such
that parental control was both directly and indirectly rela-
ted to separation anxiety symptoms. Parental control was
indirectly related to physical symptoms, social anxiety
symptoms, and harm avoidance symptoms through its
direct link to anxiety sensitivity. The study’s results
increment knowledge about factors influencing specific
dimensions of anxiety in African American children.
Keywords Child anxiety � Anxiety sensitivity � African American children � Parenting behaviors � Ethnic pride
Introduction
Research has shown that African American and European
American children have similar prevalence rates of anxiety
symptoms (Angold et al. 2002); yet African Americans are
less likely to present for treatment than European Ameri-
cans (Neal and Ward-Brown 1994). Due to this differential
in treatment seeking, African American children are not
well represented in clinical research studies on anxiety.
The primary aim of the present study was to broaden
understanding of factors that are likely related to anxiety
symptoms in African American children, but have not been
studied within the same study and within the framework of
a conceptual model. These factors were: children’s ethnic
pride, children’s perceived parental acceptance and control,
and children’s anxiety sensitivity and anxiety symptoms.
We begin by first providing definitions and brief back-
ground of the factors that were of interest in this study.
We follow this with an explanation of how we view these
variables relating to anxiety symptoms within our con-
ceptual model.
Ethnic pride refers to having positive attitudes toward
one’s ethnic group, along with a feeling of belonging to,
and affiliating with, one’s ethnic group as a central part of
one’s ethnic identity (McCreary et al. 1996; Valk and Karu
2001). Ethnic pride is a salient construct among African
Americans and has been shown to demonstrate protective
properties with youth psychosocial factors (e.g., Gaylord-
Harden et al. 2007; Marsiglia et al. 2001).
With respect to parenting, research has identified broad
dimensions of parenting, acceptance versus rejection and
C. M. K. Gray (&) Research, Analysis, and Planning, Children’s Services Council
of Broward County, 6600 West Commercial Boulevard,
Lauderhill, FL 33319, USA
e-mail: cgray@cscbroward.org
R. Carter
Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,
MI, USA
W. K. Silverman
Department of Psychology, Florida International University,
Miami, FL, USA
123
J Child Fam Stud (2011) 20:205–213
DOI 10.1007/s10826-010-9422-3
granting of autonomy versus control, as important in the
development and maintenance of anxiety and its disorders
(e.g., Chorpita et al. 1998; Craske 1999; Rapee 1997).
Parental acceptance is defined as parents’ expression of
warmth and responsiveness to children’s emotions and
behavior, and is viewed as promoting children’s emotion
regulation and willingness to explore their environment
and learn, thereby decreasing their anxiety (Gottman et al.
1997). Parental control is defined as low levels of parental
encouragement of children’s autonomy and independence,
and is viewed as decreasing children’s self-efficacy,
thereby increasing their anxiety (Barber 1996; Chorpita
and Barlow 1998).
Anxiety sensitivity refers to the fear that symptoms of
anxiety (e.g., racing heart) are uncontrollable and have
harmful somatic, psychological, or social consequences
(Reiss 1991). Evidence suggests that anxiety sensitivity,
including in children, is a risk factor for the development
and maintenance of anxiety symptoms (e.g., Reiss 1991;
Silverman and Weems 1998).
With respect to anxiety symptoms, we selected to study
the above variables in relation to specific anxiety dimen-
sions (not total anxiety scores). The anxiety dimensions we
studied represent the subscales on the Multidimensional
Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC; March et al. 1997),
which include: social phobia, separation anxiety, harm
avoidance, and physical symptoms. Our decision to use the
MASC subscales was guided by research that specific
anxiety symptoms or dimensions are manifested differently
across ethnic groups (Compton et al. 2000). For example,
Compton et al. (2000) found that African American chil-
dren scored high on separation anxiety and low on social
phobia; the opposite pattern was found with White children.
The conceptual model we formulated to guide this study
is shown in Fig. 1. Our model shows directionality of
predicted relations between variables based on extant the-
oretical and empirical research work; however, given the
cross-sectional nature of the data, the model does not
assume causality between any of the constructs. As shown
in the model, we predicted children’s ethnic pride would be
related to perceived parental acceptance and perceived
parental control (see Paths a and b). Specifically, we pre-
dicted that children who report high ethnic pride would
perceive their parents as high on parental acceptance. We
also predicted that children who report low ethnic pride
would perceive their parents as high on parental control.
These predictions are based on research findings showing
that high ethnic pride is associated with low internalizing
symptoms, including anxiety symptoms in African Amer-
ican youth (Gaylord-Harden et al. 2007), and is associated
with high parental acceptance (Wills et al. 2007).
The relation between perceived parenting behavior and
anxiety has been found to vary across ethnic groups. For
example, in a clinic-referred sample of urban adolescent
Children’s Ethnic Pride
Perceived Parental Control
Perceived Parental
Acceptance
Children’s Anxiety Sensitivity
Harm Avoidance Symptoms
Separation Anxiety Symptoms
Social Anxiety Symptoms
Physical Symptoms
a
e
d
c
b
h
g
f
Fig. 1 Theoretical model. This figure does not show all
estimated paths
206 J Child Fam Stud (2011) 20:205–213
123
girls, Finkelstein et al. (2001) found that youth perceived
maternal control was significantly and positively related to
youths’ anxious-depressed affect in the White and Latina
girls. In contrast, youth perceived maternal control was
significantly and negatively related to youths’ anxious-
depressed affect in the African American girls. Such
variations may be due in part ethnic variations in children’s
perceptions of appropriate childrearing (e.g., Finkelstein
et al. 2001; Greenfield et al. 2003; Mason et al. 2004). We
were interested in further examining the pattern of relations
among ethnic pride, perceived parenting behavior, and
anxiety symptoms in African American children given the
possibility that ethnic variations in children’s perceptions
of their parents’ behavior may present differential risk for
the development and maintenance of anxiety symptoms
(Finkelstein et al. 2001).
As the model shows, we also predicted that children’s
perceived parental control and perceived parental accep-
tance would be related to children’s anxiety sensitivity (see
Paths c and d). Specifically, we predicted that children who
perceive their parents as high in parental control would
report high levels of anxiety sensitivity, and children who
perceive their parents high in parental acceptance would
report low levels of anxiety sensitivity. These predictions
are based on research showing links between certain
aspects of parenting behavior and child anxiety sensitivity
(e.g., retrospective reports of parental control in childhood
linked to high anxiety sensitivity; Scher and Stein 2003).
We were further interested in examining anxiety sensi-
tivity in African American children given research showing
that African Americans, in general report more somatiza-
tion symptoms (i.e., symptoms of physiological complaints
that are the result of psychological distress) compared to
other ethnic groups (e.g., Heurtin-Roberts et al. 1997; Neal
and Turner 1991). Even though anxiety sensitivity is likely
to be relevant to African American children, few studies
have examined anxiety sensitivity using samples of African
American children. The studies that have been conducted
have focused mainly on the psychometric properties of
anxiety sensitivity measures (Lambert et al. 2004).
Lastly, we predicted that children’s anxiety sensitivity
would mediate the relation between their perceived
parental acceptance and perceived parental control, as well
as their anxiety symptoms (see Paths e–h). Specifically, we
expected the children’s perceived parental acceptance and
parental control would be differentially related to chil-
dren’s anxiety sensitivity and that anxiety sensitivity
would, in turn, be positively related to anxiety across all
symptom dimensions. Although no study to date has
examined these mediated relations, our prediction is based
on research indicating links between parenting behavior
and child anxiety sensitivity (Scher and Stein 2003; Watt
et al. 1998), and research indicating links between child
anxiety sensitivity and child anxiety symptoms (Olatunji
and Wolitzky-Taylor 2009).
Though parenting behavior (e.g., Wood et al. 2003) and
anxiety sensitivity (e.g., Reiss 1991) are each identifiable
risk factors for the development and maintenance of anx-
iety and its disorders in children, questions remain.
Research has only focused, however, on how these vari-
ables operate independently without considering the more
likely complex, multivariate dynamics among these vari-
ables. Moreover, this research has used predominantly
White samples of children, which may or may not be
generalizable to African American child samples.
In sum, we examined the relations among ethnic pride,
parental acceptance, parental control, anxiety sensitivity
and anxiety symptoms across all dimensions. Specifically,
we examined these relations in a sample of African
American school children, a subgroup not often studied in
child anxiety research. Examining such relations in this
sample can increment the existing literature.
Method
Participants
Participants were involved in a larger study on expressions
of anxiety in minority school children. All parents were
asked to sign an informed consent form if they gave per-
mission for their child’s participation, or to indicate if they
declined child’s participation. Children also were asked to
sign the form to provide their informed assent. Contingency
table and analysis of variance results indicated no signifi-
cant differences on sociodemographic characteristics (i.e.,
child age, recipient of free or reduced lunch status) among
children with consent/assent, children without consent/
assent, and children who did not return consent forms.
Only the data of the African American children were
included in the analyses. This led to the exclusion of data
from 63 non-African American families. The final sample
comprised 266 African American school children ages
8–13 years (M = 9.88 years, SD = 1.10; 55% girls).
Thirty-three percent (n = 88) were in third grade, 29%
(n = 76) in fourth grade, and 38% (n = 102) in fifth grade.
According to school records, approximately 74% (n = 198)
of the children received free or reduced lunch.
Measures
To reduce participant burden and to assist teachers by
maximizing instructional time, we extracted items with
highest factor loadings from previously validated mea-
sures. This method has been used in widely published
national studies (e.g., Add Health; Udry 1998), and
J Child Fam Stud (2011) 20:205–213 207
123
represents a psychometrically sound approach, while
reducing participant burden (e.g., Volpe et al. 2009).
For all measures, reliability estimates were found to be
comparable to estimates found in past research utilizing the
full measures.
Child Anxiety Symptoms
The MASC is a 39-item self-rating scale that measures a
range of anxiety symptoms in youth that are aligned with
the DSM IV diagnostic categories for anxiety disorders
(March et al. 1997). Four scale scores can be derived from
the MASC: physical symptoms, social anxiety symptoms,
separation anxiety symptoms, and harm avoidance symp-
toms. Children responded to each item on a 4-point scale: 1
(never), 2 (rarely), 3 (sometimes), or 4 (often), to yield four
subscale scores (physical symptoms, social anxiety symp-
toms, separation anxiety symptoms, harm avoidance
symptoms) with higher numbers indicating more symp-
toms. The internal consistency estimates for subscales in
this study ranged from .71 to .85.
Child Anxiety Sensitivity
A brief version of the Childhood Anxiety Sensitivity Index
(CASI; Silverman et al. 1991) was used to assess the extent
to which children believe the experience of anxiety will
result in negative consequences. The brief version of the
CASI consisted of eight items: items 9 and 18 (for physi-
ological concerns); 4 and 10 (for control concerns); 2 and
15 (for mental incapacitation concerns); and 1 and 17 (for
social concerns). Children responded to these questions on
a 3-point scale, 1 (none), 2 (some), or 3 (a lot), to yield a
total score with higher numbers indicating more anxiety
sensitivity. In this study, the CASI demonstrated accept-
able internal consistency (a = .75).
Perceived Parental Behavior
A brief version of the Children’s Report of Parent Behavior
Inventory acceptance and control subscales (CRPBI; Sch-
ludermann and Schludermann 1988) was used to assess the
extent to which children perceive their parents’ (mother
and father) childrearing practices as accepting and/or
controlling. The brief version of the acceptance subscale
consists of two items: ‘‘My mother (father) is a person who
enjoys doing things with me,’’ and ‘‘My mother (father) is a
person who often praises me.’’ The brief version of the
control subscale consists of two items: ‘‘My mother (father)
is a person who is always telling me how I should behave,’’
and ‘‘My mother (father) is a person who wants to control
whatever I do’’. A separate rating was obtained for the
mother and the father; and these ratings were then
combined to create a parental acceptance score and a
parental control score. Children responded to these ques-
tions on a 3-point scale [1 (not like), 2 (somewhat like), or 3
(a lot)], with higher numbers indicating more parental
acceptance and more parental control. The psychometric
properties for the CRPBI have been documented in over
one hundred studies; estimates for internal consistency
have been reported in previous research (a C .65; Gaylord- Harden et al. 2007; Schludermann and Schludermann
1988) (a C .57 in this study).
Ethnic Pride
Children’s ethnic pride was evaluated using a measure
adapted from the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure
(MEIM; Phinney 1992), which assesses ethnic identity
development, affirmation, belonging, and commitment.
Children responded to three items: ‘‘I have spent time
trying to find out more about my ethnic group, such as its
history, traditions, and customs,’’ ‘‘I am active in organi-
zations or social groups that include mostly members of my
own ethnic group;’’ and ‘‘I have a strong sense of
belonging to my own ethnic group.’’ Children responded to
these questions on a 3-point scale from 1 (none) to 3 (a lot).
Items were summed to yield a total score with higher
numbers indicating higher ethnic pride. Previous studies
with samples of school-age children reported internal
consistencies ranging from .30 to .72 (Reese et al. 1998)
(a = .41 in this study).
Procedure
Students with signed parent consent and child assent forms
were administered several questionnaires about the child’s
emotional functioning including the measures used in this
study. The questionnaires were completed during school
hours in a small group setting containing 5–8 students per
group. Each questionnaire was read aloud by two African
American female researchers while the children followed
along, indicating their responses on a separate answer
sheet. Total administration time of questionnaires was
approximately 30 min. The data were collected over a
3-week period.
Results
Preliminary and Descriptive Analyses
There were small amounts of missing data in this study.
The amount never exceeded more than 1% of the cases for
any given variable. There was no systematic pattern found
in the missing data. The minimal missing data was imputed
208 J Child Fam Stud (2011) 20:205–213
123
using the SPSS 16.0 missing value analysis, which utilizes
Expectation–Maximization (EM) method with importance
re-sampling as described in King et al. (2001). Outlier
analyses included both non-model based and model based
evaluations of variable data. No outliers were found in
these data.
Table 1 presents the means and standard deviations for
the study variables. There were some statistically signifi-
cant sex differences on measures of children’s anxiety
sensitivity and childhood anxiety (see Table 1). The mean
score for girls on anxiety sensitivity as measured by the
CASI was 2.43 units higher than the mean score for boys.
Further, the mean scores along all dimensions of anxiety
were significantly higher for girls as compared to boys.
On average, for physical, social anxiety, separation anxi-
ety, and harm avoidance symptoms girls scored 3.3, 2.93,
3.14, and 1.74 units higher than their male counterparts,
respectively.
Table 2 shows the correlation estimates among study
variables. There were a few noteworthy significant corre-
lations. Anxiety sensitivity was correlated with all study
variables except parental control. Perceived parental con-
trol was correlated with social anxiety and separation
anxiety symptoms. Parental acceptance was positively
correlated with social anxiety, but was negatively corre-
lated with harm avoidance.
SEM Analyses
Structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis was used to
examine the hypothesized relations among child ethnic
pride, perceived parenting behavior, anxiety sensitivity and
child anxiety symptoms using AMOS 7.0 (Arbuckle 2006)
with a single indicator path analytic approach and a robust
weighted least squares solution. SEM was selected over
ordinary least squares regression because SEM allows for
more accurate path estimates between variables by utilizing
a measurement modeling technique that accounts for
measurement error when estimating the paths among
variables in the analysis (Byrne 2001). To evaluate
hypothesized mediated relations (i.e., whether anxiety
sensitivity mediated the effects of parenting behavior on
child anxiety), the joint significance test recommended by
MacKinnon et al. (2002) was used. This method simulta-
neously tests whether the independent variable is related to
the hypothesized mediators and whether the hypothesized
Table 1 Means and standard deviations for study variables
Variables Total Sample (N = 266) Boys (n = 121) Girls (n = 145) t (264)
M SD M SD M SD
Ethnic pride 6.30 1.45 6.14 1.45 6.44 1.45 -1.68
Anxiety sensitivity 14.36 3.68 13.03 3.41 15.46 3.54 -5.66**
Perceived parental control 8.38 1.77 8.42 1.88 8.34 1.68 .36
Perceived parental acceptance 10.16 1.79 10.25 1.72 10.09 1.85 .72
Physical symptoms 12.45 7.14 10.65 6.97 13.95 6.97 -3.85**
Social anxiety symptoms 10.63 6.21 9.03 5.99 11.96 6.10 -3.93**
Separation anxiety symptoms 9.06 5.11 7.35 4.64 10.49 5.05 -5.22**
Harm avoidance symptoms 17.78 4.50 16.83 4.20 18.57 4.61 -3.20**
* p \ .05; ** p \ .01
Table 2 Intercorrelations for study variables
Variable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1. Ethnic pride – 17** .10 .14* .08 .00 .08 .20**
2. Anxiety sensitivity – .13** .05 .58** .55** .57** .27**
3. Perceived parental control – .02 .10 .13* .19** .06
4. Perceived parental acceptance – .00 -.16** -.09 .24**
5. Physical symptoms – .60** .53** .29**
6. Social anxiety symptoms – .64** .24**
7. Separation anxiety symptoms – .38**
8. Harm avoidance symptoms –
* p \ .05; ** p \ .01
J Child Fam Stud (2011) 20:205–213 209
123
mediators are related to the dependent variable. The joint
significance test has improved statistical power than other
tests of mediation while retaining adequate control over
Type I error rates (MacKinnon et al. 2002). Because little
empirical work has been done to identify factors that
impact anxiety in African American children, we did not
want to limit ourselves when modeling potential relations
among variables. Thus, we modeled both indirect and
direct effects to test for mediation (see Jaccard and Jacoby
2009).
To reduce clutter in the figure (see Fig. 2), not all details
of analyses are apparent. These include: (1) students’
biological sex (0 = male,1 = female), age in years, and
school attended (0 = school one,1 = school two) were
included as covariates for all endogenous variables; (2)
direct causal paths were included from children’s ethnic
pride, perceived parental acceptance and perceived paren-
tal control to each outcome (i.e., children’s anxiety sensi-
tivity and perceived parental control and acceptance were
modeled as only partial mediators, not complete mediators
of these effects); and (3) the path model included correlated
errors where it was reasonable to assume that factors other
than the common cause are influencing the correlation
between variables. For example, factors other than anxiety
sensitivity and perceived parenting behavior (e.g., child
temperament and perceptions of control) can contribute to
the correlation between these variables and the outcome
variables.
The overall fit of the model was acceptable as demon-
strated by the statistically non-significant chi square test of
model fit (X2 (4) = 5.61, p = 0.23). The Root Mean
Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) was .04. The
p value for the test of close fit was 0.52. The Tucker-Lewis
index (TLI) was .98. Taken together, these global fit
indices (i.e., X2, RMSEA, p value for close fit, and TLI) all
pointed towards good model fit. More focused tests of fit
revealed no theoretically meaningful or sizeable modifi-
cation indices, nor were any of the absolute standardized
residuals larger than 1.96.
Children’s ethnic pride was associated with perceived
parental acceptance such that as children’s ethnic pride
increased, perceived parental acceptance increased (B =
.18, 95% CI = .02, .32, p \ .05). Further, as children’s ethnic pride increased, perceived parental acceptance
Children’s Ethnic Pride
Perceived Parental Control
Perceived Parental
Acceptance
Children’s Anxiety Sensitivity
Harm Avoidance Symptoms
Separation Anxiety Symptoms
Social Anxiety Symptoms
Physical Symptoms
.1 8
(.1 5)
*
1. 09
(. 56
) * *
.2 8
(.1 3)
*
.24 (.19) *
.71 (.51) **
.93 (.5
5)* *
– .61 (-.17)**
.39 ( .14)
*
.56 (.22)**
.37 (.12)*
Fig. 2 SEM model showing significant relations among
children’s ethnic pride,
perceived parenting behavior,
anxiety sensitivity and child
anxiety symptoms. Note Standardized path coefficients
are in parentheses. * p \ .05. ** p \ .01. Students’ age in years, students’ biological sex,
and school attended are
included as covariates although
not shown. Students’ age in
years, students’ biological sex,
and school attended are
correlated with all exogenous
variables although curved arrows are not shown. Error variances for perceived parental
acceptance and perceived
parental control are correlated
although curved arrows are not shown
210 J Child Fam Stud (2011) 20:205–213
123
increased which, in turn, was related to a decrease in social
anxiety symptoms (B = -.61, 95% CI = -.94, -.28,
p \ .001) and an increase in harm avoidance symptoms (B = .56, 95% CI = .28, .83, p \ .001). Children’s ethnic pride was not significantly related to perceived parental
control.
Children’s ethnic pride had a significant direct effect on
harm avoidance symptoms, such that as children’s ethnic
pride increased, levels of harm avoidance symptoms
increased (B = .37, 95% CI = .02, .72, p \ .05). Chil- dren’s ethnic pride did not have a significant direct effect
on any other dimensions of anxiety symptoms.
Perceived parental control was significantly related to
children’s anxiety sensitivity (B = .28, 95% CI = .04, .51,
p \ .05) indicating that as children’s report of perceived parental control increased their reports of anxiety sensi-
tivity symptoms increased. Perceived parental acceptance
was not significantly related to children’s anxiety sensi-
tivity in this sample. Both perceived parental acceptance
and control accounted for approximately 16% of the vari-
ance in anxiety sensitivity.
Perceived parental control also had a direct effect on
childhood anxiety such that as, perceived parental control
increased, symptoms of separation anxiety increased
(B = .39, 95% CI = .11, .67, p \ .01). Thus, children’s anxiety sensitivity partially mediated the relation between
perceived parental control and separation anxiety symp-
toms (i.e., perceived parental control was both directly and
indirectly related to separation anxiety symptoms). Chil-
dren’s anxiety sensitivity accounted for 24% of the vari-
ance in the prediction of separation anxiety symptoms.
Conversely, perceived parental control was indirectly
related to physical symptoms (B = 1.09, 95% CI = .87,
1.28, p \ .001), social anxiety symptoms (B = .93, 95% CI = .75, 1.11, p \ .001), and harm avoidance symptoms (B = .24, 95% CI = .09, .39, p \ .01). All of the endog- enous variables in the model accounted for a good portion
of the variance in children’s reports of physical (33%),
social anxiety (36%), separation anxiety (37%), and harm
avoidance symptoms (15%).
Discussion
Our study investigated factors related to the domains of
anxiety symptoms in a sample of African American school
children. Specifically, we evaluated the relations between
ethnic pride, anxiety sensitivity, perceived parental control
and acceptance, and specific dimensions of child anxiety
symptoms in our sample. Although we did not find evi-
dence for full support of our theoretical model, our findings
underscore the nuances in the manifestation of anxiety
symptoms among African American children.
Overall, our findings suggest that children’s ethnic
pride, parental behaviors and anxiety sensitivity are all
factors that may impact anxiety symptoms in African
American children. Specifically, we found that children
who reported high ethnic pride perceived their parent’s
child rearing behavior as high in parental acceptance.
Higher perceived parental acceptance, in turn, predicted
children reporting lower levels of social anxiety symptoms
and higher levels of harm avoidance. In addition, children
with perceptions of high parental control reported high
anxiety sensitivity. Anxiety sensitivity partially mediated
the relation between perceived parental control and sepa-
ration anxiety symptoms. However, parental control was
indirectly related to physical symptoms, social anxiety
symptoms, and harm avoidance symptoms through its
direct link to anxiety sensitivity.
The results of our study add to what is known about how
parental behavior contributes to the dimensions of anxiety
symptoms in children, particularly in African American
children. Children who reported high ethnic pride per-
ceived their parents as high in parental acceptance. Parental
acceptance was, in turn, significantly, yet differentially
linked with social anxiety and harm avoidance symptoms.
Based on previous research documenting negative relations
between parental acceptance and anxiety in children
(e.g., Craske 1999), we expected and found that as parental
acceptance increased children’s social anxiety symptoms
decreased. Contrary to our expectations, however, was the
finding that as parental acceptance increased children’s
harm avoidance symptoms (i.e., behavioral response to
threatening situations, March, 1997) also increased.
Research with African Americans has shown that chil-
dren’s high ethnic pride is associated with high parental
acceptance (Wills et al. 2007), and parents who exhibit
warm and accepting parenting practices tend to integrate
messages regarding ethnic pride and racial socialization
into their child rearing practices, including messages on
potential discrimination (Caughy et al. 2002; McHale et al.
2006). Using the CRPBI, McHale et al. (2006) found
perceived parental acceptance to be positively associated
with preparation for bias, an increased awareness for an
African American child to develop coping strategies for
prejudices and discrimination within their larger socioeth-
nic milieu; this preparation for bias may increase children’s
symptoms related to harm avoidance. To advance under-
standing of the relation between parental acceptance and
harm avoidance symptoms in African American children,
additional work is needed and should likely include
research on parent’s racial socialization practices.
Perceived parental control, unlike parental acceptance,
was found to be significantly positively associated with
anxiety sensitivity in children. This finding is inconsistent
with the work of Scher and Stein (2003), who found that
J Child Fam Stud (2011) 20:205–213 211
123
children who reported their parents as hostile and rejecting
(converse of accepting) had higher anxiety sensitivity. It is
likely that the discrepant findings lie in the methodology.
Scher and Stein used a sample of college students who
reported on their current levels of anxiety and retrospec-
tively reported their perceptions of their parents’ behavior.
The age of the sample (college students vs. children); the
temporal lag in reporting parenting behavior (retrospective
vs. current); and the inclusion of certain aspects of par-
enting behavior (acceptance/hostile and control/granting
autonomy) all may help to explain the inconsistencies in
findings. More work is needed in this area to fully explicate
the impact of parenting behavior on anxiety sensitivity.
Our study also extends research on anxiety sensitivity in
African American children. Noteworthy was the mediating
role of anxiety sensitivity in the relation between perceived
parental control and anxiety symptoms. In our study, as
parental control increased, youth-reported anxiety sensi-
tivity increased, which, in turn, was associated with the
manifestation of anxiety symptoms across all dimensions of
anxiety. This was not the case with parental acceptance.
Parents who are controlling increase their child’s risk of
experiencing feelings of fear of anxiety symptoms, which in
turn lead to anxiety symptoms. Because African Americans
have been shown to exhibit elevated somatization symp-
toms (Heurtin-Roberts et al. 1997) and heightened atten-
tiveness to physiological symptoms is associated with
anxiety sensitivity, an understanding of factors that put
African American children at risk for anxiety sensitivity
is increasingly important. Children with high anxiety
sensitivity tend to associate their somatic symptoms
(e.g., accelerated heart beat) as distressing, which, in turn,
increase their overall anxiety (Ginsburg and Drake 2002);
these processes are cyclical (Reiss 1991) and likely per-
petuate until there is clinical intervention. Albeit clinical
intervention with the child may be warranted, if parental
control is a risk factor for anxiety sensitivity, intervening at
the parent-level may also be an appropriate applied strategy.
Limitations of the present study should be noted. First,
we utilized children’s reports as the sole method for cap-
turing data. Although children are the most reliable
reporting source for their anxiety symptoms and anxiety
sensitivity (Silverman and Eisen 1992), data from parents
on their parenting behavior, including racial and ethnic
socialization practices should be used in future studies to
examine convergence and divergence with children’s
reports. Additionally, this study utilized a cross-sectional
sample. Future research investigating the relations we
examined in our study would benefit from prospective
research designs to better understand potential causal
relations among the study’s variables.
Another study limitation was the somewhat low reli-
ability of the ethnic pride measure used in this study. Reese
et al. (1998) suggested there may be other mediating
mechanisms that impact the reliability of reports of ethnic
pride among African American children (e.g., cognitive
processes, socioeconomic factors) and have discussed the
challenges in fully disentangling this construct in children.
Nevertheless, this study is the first to call attention to the
potential importance of ethnic pride in trying to understand
anxiety problems in samples of African American children.
Future research should continue to examine ethnic pride as
a relevant and reliable construct among African American
children.
Finally, other factors not measured in this study could
have accounted for the variance in domains of anxiety
(e.g., parents’ anxiety symptoms). Although, our theoreti-
cal framework accounted for a good portion of the variance
in the domains of anxiety, more research is needed to
consider other factors that may place African American
youth at risk for or protect from anxiety problems.
We suggest that future researchers continue to extend our
work so that knowledge on the domains of childhood anx-
iety symptoms in African American children is advanced.
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