Paternal Feelings and Child’s Anxiety

The Mediating Role of Father–Child Insecure Attachment and Child’s Emotional Regulation

Dados Bibliográficos

ID21748716
AutoresVered Shenaar‐golan (0000-0002-4421-4241, Tel Hai Academic College), Uri Yatzkar (Bar-Ilan University), Y Yaffe (0000-0002-3342-8842, Tel Hai Academic College, autor correspondente)
Ano2021
Volume15
Fascículo6
Páginas15579883211067103-15579883211067103
Data de publicação2021-11-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoAmerican Journal of Men s Health (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1557-9883 • E-ISSN: 1557-9891
EditoraSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/15579883211067103
PMID34939513
OpenAlexW4200068104
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas5
Referências citadas84

The study introduces a path model that links between paternal feelings and child’s anxiety symptoms, aiming to test the mediational role of father–child insecure attachment and the child’s difficulties in emotional regulation in the occurrence of anxiety disorders among a sample of 148 fathers and their children (65 boys and 83 girls aged 8–18) attending the child psychiatric center of a public hospital. Participants completed a battery of diagnostical and research questionnaires, including the Parental Feelings Inventory (PFI), the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), the Screen for Child Anxiety–Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED), and the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale–Revised Child version (ECR-RC). Using structural equation modeling, we found father’s anger to be associated with father–child anxiety attachment, while the latter simultaneously mediated the link to the child’s anxiety both directly and indirectly (through emotion regulation [ER]). Consistent with previous evidence, we found insecure attachment and emotional regulation to be uniquely associated with the child’s anxiety. The current findings are among the first to demonstrate the interrelations between these variables in the context of father–child relations, suggesting that the child’s exposure to paternal anger might contribute to developing difficulties in ER and elevated anxiety due to a father–child insecure-anxious attachment relationship. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed in light of parental gender

Anger · Anxiety · Developmental psychology · Emotional dysregulation · Feeling · Psychiatry · Attachment and Relationship Dynamics · Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development · Clinical Psychology · Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum · Psychology · Social Psychology