Relationship between Child Social Anxiety and the Use of Coercive Control by Parents and/or Caregivers

Abstract

Parenting models can contribute to a reproduction of adaptive or maladaptive behavioral patterns by children. They may be included in this last category internalizing behaviors, which involve child social anxiety disorder. This study was based on the analytical-behavioral theoretical basis and aimed to identify possible relationships between the use of coercive control by parents and/or caregivers and social anxiety in childhood. Fifty-two parents and/or caregivers of children aged between 8 and 12 (M=9.3; SD=1.7) participated in the sample, 53.8% (n=28) were female children and 46.2% (n=24) were male and their respective guardians (M=38; SD=5.9). Guardians were asked to answer the survey available in Google Forms a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC) and the Parental Practices Scale (EPP). The data were tabulated and analyzed using descriptive and correlational analyses. Although most respondents did not have any diagnosis of anxiety, they reported anxious behaviors influencing the behavior of their children. It was observed that children inserted in family contexts that precarize the emotional support, the incentive to autonomy and the supervision of behavior and emphasize the use of coercive control, tend to manifest higher levels of social anxiety.