How do anxious children attempt to regulate worry? Results from a qualitative study with an experimental manipulation

ConclusionsOur results demonstrate that anxious children use a variety of behavioural and cognitive strategies to regulate worry. They use these strategies in combination, they generally perceive them as ineffective, and they sometimes do not report any strategy for attempting to regulate their worry. These results indicate that clinicians should be curious about which strategies anxious children use to regulate their worry, how these strategies interact with each other, and how they are implemented by the child.Practitioner points Using an experimental manipulation followed by an interview, this study sought to investigate how anxious children seek to regulate their worries. Anxious children attempt to regulate their worry with use of behavioural regulation strategies, such as avoidance and distraction, and with use of cognitive regulation strategies, including thinking about something else, self ‐reassurance talk, and thought suppression. Sometimes, however, anxious children are not able to report a regulation strategy for a specific worry episode, suggesting that they may not always have a strategy or that they lack the introspective ability to report what they did. Clinicians should b e aware that anxious children may use internal (cognitive) regulation strategies while at the same time using behavioural regulation strategies, such as avoidance.
Source: Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Qualitative Paper Source Type: research