Effects of Maternal Interpretation Biases on Child Anxiety and Related Responses

N/ACompletedNCT02095340

University of Houston210 enrolled

Overview

The purpose of this study is to expand our understanding of the intergenerational transmission of cognitive risk for childhood anxiety disorders by examining whether changes in maternal interpretations of situations result in changes in child interpretations and child anxiety.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

TRIPLE

Enrollment

210

Conditions

Anxiety Disorders

Interventions

Positive Interpretation Bias TrainingOTHER

Neutral Interpretation Bias TrainingOTHER

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 8 YearsMax age: 12 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Children ages 8-12 * Children with primary diagnosis of anxiety disorder * Mothers with clinical levels of anxiety symptoms on the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales (DASS; Lovibond \& Lovibond, 1995) Exclusion Criteria: * Physical disability impairing ability to use a computer * Intelligence Quotient \<80 * Reading comprehension and fluency composite \<75 * Concurrent primary diagnosis of any non-anxiety disorder * Currently receiving psychological or pharmacological treatment for anxiety * Danger to self/others * Non-English speaking child/parent * Maternal current involvement in cognitive-behavioral therapy * Maternal changes in pharmacological treatment in the 12 weeks prior to enrollment.

Locations (1)

University of Houston

Houston, Texas, United States

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Word Sentence Association Paradigm

Proportion of threatening (versus nonthreatening) interpretations made on the Word Sentence Association Paradigm (WSAP). Scores range from 0 to 1. Higher scores mean a worse outcome, that is, more negative interpretations.

Time frame: Participants will be assessed, on average, within 20 minutes after the intervention.

Maternal Anxious Behavior Coded by Independent Observers.

Maternal anxious behavior coded by independent observers on a 0 - 4 scale. Higher numbers indicated more observed anxious behaviors.

Time frame: Immediately after the intervention, an average of 10 minutes.

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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