Development and Evaluation of the Parental Beliefs about Anxiety Questionnaire

Although numerous parental styles, practices, behaviors, and beliefs have been linked to childhood anxiety, specific parental cognitions that are concurrently associated with parental and child anxiety have yet to be operationalized and measured in a single instrument. This investigation describes the development of a parent-report questionnaire designed to assess parental beliefs about their child’s anxiety, namely the Parental Beliefs about Anxiety Questionnaire (PBA-Q). This questionnaire demonstrated good internal consistency, reliability, and validity when evaluated in a general sample of clinically referred children and their parents. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a four-factor solution, suggesting that multiple facets might underlie the construct of parental beliefs about child anxiety. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of parental beliefs about the child’s anxiety to understanding the relationship between parental and child anxiety.