The association between perceptions of parent worry and generalised anxiety disorder symptoms in a community sample of adolescents

Parental rearing behaviours, including modelling of anxiety, have been associated with corresponding anxiety symptoms in children and adolescents. However, there is a paucity of research investigating the relationship between worry-related learning experiences from parents and general worry or generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) symptoms in children and adolescents. The purpose of the present study was to examine this association. It was predicted that worry-related learning experiences from parents would be a significant predictor of adolescent GAD symptoms. To evaluate this hypothesis, 348 adolescents from public and private secondary schools in the Southeast were surveyed. Consistent with previous research, the results of this study indicated that observation of parent worry was significantly and positively associated with adolescent GAD symptoms. Overall, these results suggest that parental modelling of worry may be related to the development and maintenance of pathological worry in youth. The findings...