The relationship between parenting styles or parenting practices, and anxiety in childhood and adolescence: a systematic review

Anxiety is one of the most common pathologies in the childhood and adolescent population and it has a high comorbidity that sometimes makes diagnosis and treatment very difficult. It also tends to persist over time, causing great difficulties in the daily life of children and adolescents. In this review the empirical evidence for the relationship between parenting styles and practices and anxiety in children and adolescents is analysed based on twenty-two articles. Reasonably consistent evidence was found, based mainly on European populations, that lower levels of anxiety, or fewer anxiety symptoms or internalising symptoms were related to affection, warmth, and acceptance from parents. In contrast, higher levels or more of these symptoms were linked to authoritarian style, rejection, psychological control, excessive parental control, over-involvement, rigid discipline, and hostile control. Furthermore, the review provided evidence of the need to develop preventive family education programmes and include parenting practices as an important part of the process for treating childhood and adolescent anxiety.