Child- and family-level factors as predictors of Chinese children’s generalized anxiety disorder symptoms in middle childhood

The current study aimed to examine the development of generalized anxiety disorder symptoms and the influences of child-level factors (gender and temperament) and family-level factors (family socioeconomic status, marital satisfaction, parenting stress, and parent-child conflict resolution strategy) on the initial levels and changes of generalized anxiety disorder symptoms during middle childhood. Participants were 323 children and their parents in China. Child generalized anxiety disorder symptoms, temperament, family socioeconomic status, marital satisfaction, parenting stress, and parent-child conflict resolution strategy were measured based on maternal and paternal reports. The latent growth curve modeling techniques were used to examine the trajectories of generalized anxiety disorder symptoms and how child- and family-level factors were related to the development of generalized anxiety disorder symptoms. The results showed that child generalized anxiety disorder symptoms increased in the period of middle childhood. Children who had higher levels of generalized anxiety disorder symptoms at the beginning of this period had a higher level of negative affectivity, had fathers with a high level of parenting stress, and experienced more maternal corporal punishment and nonviolence discipline. Children who became more anxious across this period had a higher level of negative affectivity. The findings of our study provided valuable insights into child generalized anxiety disorder symptoms during middle childhood. This study highlighted the need for interventions aimed at decreasing child generalized anxiety disorder symptoms by interfering with both child- and family-related factors.