NCJ Number
214881
Journal
Journal of Adolescence Volume: 29 Issue: 3 Dated: June 2006 Pages: 407-417
Date Published
June 2006
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This study examined the link between adolescents' perceptions of their parents' behaviors toward them and the adolescents' scores on measures of symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).
Abstract
Adolescents who perceived themselves as alienated from or rejected by their parents had higher scores on symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder. Girls in mid-adolescence perceived more parental alienation in relation to their GAD symptom scores than both early and mid-adolescent boys. Early-adolescent boys perceived more parental rejection in relation to their GAD symptom scores than mid-adolescent boys. Although both girls and boys developed symptoms of anxiety when they perceived alienation from or rejection by their parents, for boys the reaction to their interactions with parents decreased in intensity over time; whereas, girls' sensitivity to interactions with parents tended to increase over time. The 1,106 students who participated in the study came from 12 Dutch junior high and high schools in the Utrecht Province of The Netherlands. This study involved a subsample of a larger, ongoing study of Dutch adolescents and their interactions with their parents and peers, their emotional states, and their general activities. Only those students who had completed the GAD symptoms questionnaire, the perceived parental rejection, overcontrol and attachment questionnaires, and came from two-parent households were included in this study. 1 table, 1 figure, and 40 references