The Relationship between Cognitive Bias, Anxiety Sensitivity and Maternal Beliefs and Anxiety in Children: The Mediating Role of Coping Strategies

Anxiety is a common disorder in children which may be influenced by several interpersonal and intrapersonal factors. Based on the studies done, it seems that the components of thought, feeling and behavior of parents and children influence the anxiety in children. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between cognitive bias, anxiety sensitivity and maternal beliefs and anxiety in children through the mediating role of coping strategies in children.

This research was a descriptive-correlational research. The study population consisted of all the students of grade 5 and 6 (i.e. 11-12 years old) studying at the non-governmental schools of District 3 in Tabriz city in the academic year of 2015-2016. Among which, a sample of 279 students (150 girls and 129 boys) together with their mothers were selected by cluster sampling. Anxiety Sensitivity Index (Tsao et al., 2006), Cognitive Error Questionnaire (Covin et al., 2011), Coping Strategies Questionnaire (Hernandez, 2008), Anxiety Questionnaire (March et al., 2010) and Parental Beliefs about Anxiety Questionnaire (Chorpita, 2010) were used to gather the data. Correlation and path coefficient analysis were used to analyze the data.

The results showed that anxiety sensitivity, maternal beliefs and coping strategies directly affect the anxiety in children. The result also indicated that anxiety sensitivity, cognitive bias and maternal beliefs had an indirect effect on the anxiety in children through the coping strategies (p=0.05).

Based on the results, it can be concluded that coping strategies play an important role in the relationship between anxiety sensitivity, cognitive bias, and maternal beliefs and anxiety in children. Therefore, cognitive training of mothers and children which improves the coping strategies in children can be very effective in reducing the anxiety in children.