Separation Anxiety among Kindergarten Children and its Association with Parental Socialization
The present study aimed at investigating the association between separation anxiety and parental socialization styles among a sample of kindergarten children in Amman city, Jordan. The study adopted the descriptive cross-sectional design. A sample of 300 kindergarten children were enrolled in this study. The researcher used a modified version of the separation anxiety scale in addition to the parental socialization styles scale. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) (v. 27, IBM Corp.). The results of the study showed that 8% (n=24) of the enrolled participants had a high level of separation anxiety, normality parenting style was adopted by 38.7% (n=116). The results showed that there was significant statistical association between separation anxiety and cruelty parenting style (r=0.465, p=0.003), overprotection parenting style (r=0.301, p=0.000), negligence parenting style (p=0.641, p=0.04), and normality (r=0.09, p=0.000). The results showed that separation anxiety is significantly associated with parental socialization styles in general (r=0.326, p=0.007).
1. El'konin DB. Toward the problem of stages in the mental development of the child. In: Revival: Soviet Developmental Psychology: An Anthology. Routledge;1977:538-563.
2. DelGiudice M. Middle childhood: An evolutionary-developmental synthesis. In: Handbook of Life Course Health Development. Springer International Publishing;2018:95-107. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-47143-3_5
3. Pini S, Abelli M, Costa B, et al. Separation anxiety and measures of suicide risk among patients with mood and anxiety disorders. J Clin Psychiatry. 2021;82(2):28571. doi:10.4088/jcp.20m13299
4. Kara A. A review of childhood anxiety. Journal of Clinical Trials and Experimental Investigations. 2022;1(3):64-70.
5. Smetana JG. Current research on parenting styles, dimensions, and beliefs. Current Opinion in Psychology. 2017;15:19-25. doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.02.012
6. Eun JD, Paksarian D, He JP, Merikangas KR. Parenting style and mental disorders in a nationally representative sample of US adolescents. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2018;53(1):11-20. doi:10.1007/s00127-017-1435-4
7. Karaer Y, Akdemir D. Parenting styles, perceived social support and emotion regulation in adolescents with internet addiction. Comprehensive Psychiatry. 2019;92:22-27. doi:10.1016/j.comppsych.2019.03.003
8. Sahithya BR, Manohari SM, Vijaya R. Parenting styles and its impact on children- a cross cultural review with a focus on India. Mental Health, Religion & Culture. 2019;22(4):357-383. doi:10.1080/13674676.2019.1594178
9. Kwan HC, Leung MT. The structural model in parenting style, attachment style, self-regulation and self-esteem for smartphone addiction. IAFOR J Psychol Behav Sci. 2017;3(1):85-103. doi:10.22492/ijpbs.3.1.06
10. Tani F, Pascuzzi D, Raffagnino R. The relationship between perceived parenting style and emotion regulation abilities in adulthood. J Adult Dev. 2018;25(1):1-12. doi:10.1007/s10804-017-9269-6
11. Gorostiaga A, Aliri J, Balluerka N, Lameirinhas J. Parenting styles and internalizing symptoms in adolescence: a systematic literature review. International journal of environmental research and public health. 2019;16(17):3192. doi:10.3390/ijerph16173192
12. Gittelman R, Klein DF. Childhood separation anxiety and adult agoraphobia. In: Anxiety and the Anxiety Disorders. Routledge;2019:389-402. doi:10.4324/9780203728215-28
13. Battaglia M. Separation anxiety: at the neurobiological crossroads of adaptation and illness. In: Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience.;2022.
14. Vaughan J, Coddington JA, Ahmed AH, Ertel M. Separation anxiety disorder in school-age children: What health care providers should know. Journal of Pediatric Health Care. 2017;31(4):433-440. doi:10.1016/j.pedhc.2016.11.003
15. Orgilés M, Penosa P, Morales A, Fernández-Martinez I, Espada JP. Maternal anxiety and separation anxiety in children aged between 3 and 6 years: the mediating role of parenting style. J Dev Behav Pediatr. 2018;39(8):621-628. doi:10.1097/dbp.0000000000000593
16. Wheaton MG, Kaiser N. Anxiety sensitivity and intolerance of uncertainty as factors related to adult separation anxiety disorder symptoms. Int J Cogn Ther. 2021;14(3):473-484. doi:10.1007/s41811-021-00114-w
17. Bassi G, et al. Separation anxiety in a community sample of Italian emerging adults and its relationship with dimensions of borderline personality. Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process, and Outcome. 2021;24(1).
18. Finsaas MC, Klein DN. Is adult separation anxiety associated with offspring risk for internalizing psychiatric problems? Psychol Med. Published online January 26, 2022:1-10. doi:10.1017/s0033291721005249
19. Ganaprakasam C, Davaidass KS, Muniandy SC. Helicopter parenting and psychological consequences among adolescent. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications. 2018;8(6):378-382. doi:10.29322/ijsrp.8.6.2018.p7849
20. Vigdal JS, Bronnick KK. A Systematic Review of “Helicopter Parenting” and Its Relationship With Anxiety and Depression. Front Psychol. 2022;13:2709. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.872981
21. Srivastav D, Mathur MNL. Helicopter parenting and adolescent development: from the perspective of mental health. In: Parenting- Studies by an Ecocultural and Transactional Perspective. IntechOpen;2020. doi:10.5772/intechopen.93155