Separation anxiety and gender variance in a community sample of children

This study examined GV and SA in a nonclinical sample of 892 boys and 933 girls aged 6 –12 years via parent-reports. Parental factors (i.e., parenting style, parent–child relationship, willingness to serve as an attachment figure, attitudes towards gender stereotypes in children) were examined as potential moderators. GV predicted SA in boys, even when statistically controlling f or general psychopathology and demographic variables. Authoritative parenting, closeness in the parent–child relationship, willingness to serve as an attachment figure, and liberal attitudes towards gender stereotypes in children moderated the association between GV and SA in both boys and girls. Thus, SA may be a unique internalizing problem related to GV in boys in nonclinical samples and influenced by a variety of parental factors.
Source: European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry - Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research