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Behavioral inhibition in children of parents with panic disorder: A comparative study
Abstract
This study compared the rate of behavioral inhibition among children of parents with panic disorder to the one exhibited by children whose parents have no identified psychiatric disorder. Two groups of 20 White children aged two, three or four years old were matched for age, sex, socioeconomic level and ordinal position. Group assignment depended on the parent's diagnosis. In the clinical sample, at least one parent was suffering from panic disorder with or without agoraphobia. Neither parent of the children in the comparison group had ever met the requirements for psychiatric disorder. The Psychiatric Diagnostic Interview-Revised was used for the parent's assessment. The assessment of behavioral inhibition was made from scoring obtained in two play situations. In the first one, involving physically mildly challenging stimuli, three variables were considered: proportion of time the child remained proximal to the parent, number of tasks initiated and imitated. The second experimental situation involved play with an unfamiliar child of the same age and sex. The scoring elements included: latencies to first comment, to touch toys and to approach the other child as well as proportion of time proximal to the parent, staring at the other child and vocalizing. No significant difference was found between the two groups. There was a trend for children whose mother had panic disorder to be more inhibited than children whose father was symptomatic and for girls to be more inhibited than boys. The parents of the most inhibited youngsters in the clinical sample had all been severely symptomatic during the child's lifetime. Rather than rejecting outright the hypothesis of an increased rate of behavioral inhibition among children of parents with panic disorder, the author suggests some modifications. How acutely symptomatic the parent was during the child's lifetime would be a modulating factor as well as the gender of the child and of the symptomatic parent. More specifically, daughters of symptomatic mothers may be more at risk for behavioral inhibition. These qualifications suggest pathways for environmental influence on the course of behavioral inhibition in families where one of the parents is affected by panic disorder.
Subject Area
Clinical psychology|Developmental psychology
Recommended Citation
Dionne, Laure Helene, "Behavioral inhibition in children of parents with panic disorder: A comparative study" (1993). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9316642.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9316642