Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T17:47:02.058Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Perceived Control and Anxiety in Portuguese Children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2013

Ana I. F. Pereira ,
Luísa Barros  and
Denisa Mendonça
Ana I. F. Pereira*
Affiliation:
Universidade de Lisboa (Portugal)
Luísa Barros
Affiliation:
Universidade de Lisboa (Portugal)
Denisa Mendonça
Affiliation:
Universidade do Porto (Portugal)
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Ana I. F. Pereira. Faculdade de Psicologia, Universidade de Lisboa, Alameda da Universidade, 1649-013 Lisboa (Portugal). E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The central role of perceived control in the development of anxiety disorders is proposed by several theoretical models. The main objective of the present study was to examine the relation between perceived control and anxiety in Portuguese school-age children. To accomplish this objective we developed the Portuguese short form of the Anxiety Control Questionnaire for Children (ACQ-C, Weems, 2005; Pereira & Barros, 2010), whose psychometric studies are presented. The sample comprised 238 children, aged 8 to 15 years, from the general population attending Portuguese schools. Children completed measures of perceived control (ACQ-C) and their anxiety (Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders – Revised, SCARED-R). The psychometric studies indicate good psychometric characteristics of the Portuguese ACQ-C short form, in particular a high internal consistency (α = .85) and an adequate temporal stability (r = .60, p = .002). Results show a significant negative association between perceived control and anxiety symptomatology, providing partial support for models that assign a central role to control beliefs in explaining the development of anxiety disorders. These results also suggest the importance of considering the perception of control as a prime target for preventive actions and intervention aimed at reducing anxiety in school aged children.

Diferentes modelos teóricos sugieren un papel central de la percepción de control en el desarrollo de trastornos de ansiedad. El objetivo principal del presente estudio fue examinar la relación entre la percepción de control y la ansiedad en niños portugueses en edad escolar. Para lograr este objetivo desarrollamos una versión portuguesa del Cuestionario de Control de la Ansiedad para Niños – forma abreviada (ACQ-C, Weems, 2005; Pereira & Barros, 2010), cuyos estudios psicométricos se presentan. El estudio se realizó con una muestra de 283 niños de la población general que asisten a escuelas primarias, con edades comprendidas entre los 8 y los 15años. Los niños completaron colectivamente la forma abreviada del Cuestionario de Control de la Ansiedad para Niños (ACQ-C) y la versión revisada del Cuestionario de Evaluación de Trastornos Emocionales Relacionados con la Ansiedad en Niños (SCARED-R). Los estudios psicométricos indican buenas características psicométricas de la versión portuguesa de ACQ-C, en particular una alta consistencia interna (α = .85) y una adecuada estabilidad temporal (r = .60, p = .002). Los resultados muestran una asociación negativa significativa entre la percepción de control y la sintomatología de la ansiedad, proporcionando apoyo parcial a los modelos que asignan un papel central a la percepción de control en la explicación del desarrollo de los trastornos de ansiedad. Estos resultados también sugieren la importancia de considerar la percepción de control como un objetivo prioritario para las acciones preventivas y de intervención dirigidas a reducir la ansiedad en los niños en edad escolar.

Keywords

control beliefsanxietyschool age childrencreencias de controlansiedadniños en edad escolar
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 15 , Issue 2 , July 2012 , pp. 631 - 637
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barlow, D. H. (2000). Unraveling the mysteries of anxiety and its disorders from the perspective of emotion theory. American Psychologist, 55, 1247–1263. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037//0003-066X.55.11.1247CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barlow, D. H. (2002). Anxiety and its disorders: The nature and treatment of anxiety and panic, (2nd Ed.) New York, NY: Guilford.Google Scholar
Chorpita, B. F. (2001). Control and development of negative emotion. In Vasey, M.W. & Dadds, M. R. (Eds.), The developmental psychopathology of anxiety (pp 112–142). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chorpita, B. F., & Barlow, D. H. (1998). The development of anxiety: The role of control in the early environment. Psycho-logical Bulletin, 124, 3–21. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037//0033-2909.124.1.3Google Scholar
Chorpita, B. F., Brown, T.A., & Barlow, D. H. (1998). Perceived control as a mediator of family environment in etiological models of childhood anxiety. Behavior Therapy, 29, 457–476. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0005-7894(98)80043-9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fischer, A. H., Rodriguez Mosquera, P. M., Van Vianen, A. E. M., Manstead, A. S. R. (2004). Gender and culture differences in emotion. Emotion, 4, 87–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.4.1.87CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McLeod, B. D., Wood, J. J., & Weisz, J. R. (2007).Examining the association between parenting and childhood anxiety:Ameta-analyses. Clinical Psychology Review, 27, 155–172. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2006.09.002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muris, P. (2007). Normal and abnormal fear and anxiety in children and adolescents. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Elsevier.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muris, P., & Merckelbach, H. (1998). Perceived parental rearing behavior and anxiety disorders symptoms in normal children. Personality and Individual Differences, 25, 1199–1206. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8869(98)00153-6CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muris, P., Merckelbach, H., Schmidt, H., & Mayer, B. (1998). The revised version of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED-R): Factor structure in normal children. Personality and Individual Differences, 26, 99–112. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8869(98)00130-5Google Scholar
Nunn, G. D. (1988). Concurrent validity between the Nowicji-Strickland locus of control scale and the state-trait anxiety inventory for children. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 48, 435–438. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0013164488482016Google Scholar
Pereira, A. I. F., & Barros, L. (2010). Questionário de Controlo sobre a Ansiedade para Crianças – versão portuguesa da forma abreviada do ACQ-c [ChildrenAnxiety Control Questionnaire – the portuguese version of the ACQ-C]. Unpublished manuscript. Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal.Google Scholar
Rapee, R. M., Craske, M. G., Brown, T. A., & Barlow, D. H. (1996). Measurement of perceived control over anxiety related events. Behavior Therapy, 27, 279–293. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0005-7894(96)80018-9Google Scholar
Sanderson, W. C., Rapee, R. M., & Barlow, D. H. (1989). The influence of an illusion of control on panic attacks induced via the inhalation of 5.5% carbon dioxide enriched air. Archives of General Psychiatry, 46, 157–162. http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.1989.01810020059010CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Simon, E., & Bögels, S. M. (2009). Screening for anxiety disorders in children. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 18, 625–634. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00787-009-0023-xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Siqueland, L., Kendall, P. C., & Steinberg, L. (1996). Anxiety in children: Perceived family environments and observed family interaction. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 25, 225–237. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15374424jccp2502_12CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (1989). Using Multivariate Statistics (2nd Ed.) Northridge, CA: Harper Collins.Google Scholar
Taylor, L. K., Costa, N. M., Watts, S. E., Cannon, M. F., Zakem, A. H., & Weems, C. F. (2006, August). Developing the Anxiety Control Questionnaire for children (ACQ-C) Short Form. Presentation in the American Psychological Association 2006 Convention, New Orleans, LA.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Brakel, A. M. L., Muris, P., Bögels, S., & Thomassen, C. (2006). A multifactorial model for the etiology of anxiety in non-clinical adolescents: Main and interactive effects of behavioral inhibition, attachment and parental rearing. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 15, 568–578. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10826-006-9061-xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weems, C. F. (2005). The anxiety control questionnaire for children-Short Form. New Orleans, LA: University of New Orleans.Google Scholar
Weems, C. F., Silverman, W. K., Rapee, R., & Pina, A.A. (2003). The role of control in childhood anxiety disorders. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 27, 557–568. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1026307121386CrossRefGoogle Scholar