Anxious by maternal - versus self-report: are they the same children?

INTRODUCTION Assessing childhood anxiety is complicated by differences between informants, particularly parents and children. We examined factors associated with mother- and child-report, to understand how children identified by each might differ. METHOD Eighty-five children with anxiety disorders diagnosed by semi-structured interview, and 45 children without such disorders and their mothers completed a standardized anxiety questionnaire. Predictors of questionnaire scores by mother- and child-report were examined, and a comparison of children high- and low- on self- report was done. RESULTS Child anxiety self-reports were best predicted by depressive symptoms, maternal psychopathology (self-report), and a support-seeking coping style (adjusted R(2) = .299). Maternal reports were best predicted by child functioning (clinician-rated) and maternal psychopathology (self-report) (adjusted R(2) = .305). Children high on self-report showed higher depressive symptoms (p = .001) and reported higher use of avoidant (p < .05) and support-seeking (p < .01) coping strategies than low self-reporters. Diagnosis was more significantly linked to maternal- than child-report (chi-square = 49.99, p <.001 for mother; 4.27, p<.05 for child). CONCLUSION Depressive symptoms and coping style appear to predict children's self-reported anxiety, but clinicians may place greater emphasis on maternal report in assigning diagnoses, potentially missing some children with significant anxiety.