Overprotective parenting and anxiety development in childhood

Childhood Stress

"Between a touchy temperament in infancy and anxiety disorders in adulthood lie two highly significant things: Parents" (Hortrum, 1994, p. 18). Most parents want to protect their children from harm; however, this sometimes leads to overprotection which results in the child experiencing stress that may later manifest itself as anxiety in adulthood. Coplan et al. (2007) describe overprotective parents as those who over manage situations for their child, restrict child behaviors, discourage child independence, and direct child activities. Chorpita & Barlow (1998) describe overprotection as "as involving excessive parental involvement in controlling the child's environment to minimize aversive experiences for the child." While these behaviors may be well-intentioned, they have been shown to cause children to develop stress and anxiety disorders later in life. Overprotective parenting results in shyness and social anxiety in children, and may lead to psychological disorders in adulthood such as adjustment disorder, panic disorder, and depression.

Causes of Overprotection

Overprotection is a form of psychological control. According to Mills et al. (2007), "psychological control is control of the child through psychological intrusion or invasion of the child's inner self. Psychological control is a form of boundary dissolution in which the parent denies or fails to recognize the child's psychological separateness and uniqueness." (p. 360). Parents consider their own needs rather than those of their child. Mills et al. (2007) add that psychological control is a result of shame. When this shame is internalized, it results in anxiety. When it is externalized, it results in hostility. In parenting internalized shame results in worrying and overprotecting, while externalized shame results in critical or rejecting parenting (Mills et al., 2007).

One explanation is that shame-related anxiety results in a sense of lack of control or helplessness regarding the self and fear of rejection of others. As a result, the individual develops coping mechanism to alleviate these fears. These coping mechanisms may include worry about "threatening possibilities and their potential negative consequences." (Mills et al., 2007, p. 360). The parent may then develop a "worrisome approach to the child" and exhibit overprotective behaviors. These behaviors include a preoccupation with potential threats to the child's health and well-being. In order to avoid these threats the parent will engage in "excessive care or overprotection by discouraging independence, restricting behavior, and/or infantilizing the child." (Mills et al., 2007, p. 361).

This psychological control creates a cycle of behaviors which, according to Spokas & Heimberg (2008) "the child holds an assumption that the outcomes of behavior are determined by others or chance. This cognitive style leads to certain behaviors, such as clinging to parents for protection, which results in greater overprotection and control on the part of the parents. The parents' reaction to increase protection serves to both reinforce the child's belief in external control and increase social anxiety." (p. 544).

Shyness in Kindergarten

Overprotective parenting, according to Coplan et al. (2007), has a documented relationship with shyness in early childhood. Shyness, as defined by Coplan et al. (2007), "refers to wariness and anxiety in the face of social novelty and perceived social evaluation and is characterized by an approach-avoidance conflict in such situations" (p. 359). This shyness can cause social, emotional, and adjustment difficulties for the child. In kindergarten, shyness is linked with difficulties with peers and teachers. According to Coplan et al. (2007) shy children may be perceived as unwilling or unable to participate in classroom activities because of their reluctance to speak in class. Coplan et al. (2007) explain further that shyness is related to problems in middle school and adolescence including loneliness, depression, social anxiety, deficits in social competence, lower self-esteem and peer rejection. This comes at a time when peer relationships are particularly important to the child. Additionally "shyness in early childhood appears to be a risk for factor for the later development of anxiety disorders" (Coplan et al., 2007, p. 359).

In a study conducted by Coplan et al. (2007), shyness in children is related to a maladaptive family environment created by "fretful parenting." Fretful parenting is described as a combination of maternal neuroticism, behavioral inhibition system (BIS) sensitivity, and overprotective parenting (Coplan et al., 2007). The results of the study suggest that fretful parenting can exacerbate adjustment difficulties on shy children in kindergarten. Coplan et al. (2007) explain that there may be two causes for this. First of all fretful mothers are more likely to "model anxious behaviors and highlight the risks and dangers in the environment" (p. 367). Additionally, overprotective behavior by these fretful parents, such as removing children from stressful environments, may inhibit development of coping strategies in shy children.

Adjustment Disorder

Overprotection has also been linked with adjustment disorders in adults. Giotakos (2002) describes two styles of parenting that contribute to these adjustment disorders. These are the affectionless control style and affectionate constraint style. According to Giotakos (2002) "the affectionless control style of bonding indicates high overprotective behavior with low care by the parent and has been found to be characteristic of adults with depression, delinquency, and adolescent drug abuse. Affectionate constraint (high care, high protection) appears to have some specificity to panic disorder." (p. 28).

In a study of fifty-four soldiers suffering from adjustment disorder, Giotakos (2002) found that overprotection during childhood was one of the most important factors for the development of adjustment disorder as well as for the severity of the symptoms. The study confirmed the findings of several other studies which showed correlations between overprotective parenting and psychological disorders including panic disorder, social phobia, and depression. In a similar study conducted with 167 African-American college students, Love (2008), found that maternal overprotection emerged as a significant predictor of anxiety and depression. In fact, perceptions of maternal invasiveness and control results in increased levels of anxiety and depression. According to Love (2008) "those who had mothers who were overprotective and invasive tended to report higher levels of psychological distress, which may indicate that overprotective behaviors hinder students' development of healthy identities as independent, psychologically adjusted young adults." (p. 38). A study of 923 college students by Spokas & Heimberg (2008) found that college students' reports of social anxiety were associated with ratings of low parental warmth and high parental overprotection.

Spokas & Heimberg (2008) explain that "overprotective parenting contributes to the development of a cognitive style in which an individual believes that outcomes are largely determined by external factors." (p. 548). This feeling of lack of control over external factors results in social anxiety. Rekert (2007) agrees adding "numerous empirical studies with both clinical and community samples have confirmed that perceived low parental care and overprotection in childhood are associated with depression and anxiety disorders later in life." (p. 420).

A study conducted by Rekert et al. (2007) examined the following variables for 234 college students:

both mother and father care and overprotection, participant gender, family environment variables including conflict and control, adult attachment variables, attributional style and control-related cognitive variables, and symptoms of anxiety and depression.

The results of the study confirmed other studies' results regarding the impact of overprotection. As was found with the other studies, overprotection resulted in anxiety and depression among college students.

Discussion

This paper has shown the detrimental effects of overprotective parenting. Overprotective parenting results from a desire from parents trying to maintain psychological control their children. This may be a result of the parents own anxieties which creates worrisome parenting. Parents attempt to protect their children from experiencing stress. However, in this attempt parents are actually creating many harmful effects. These effects may begin prior to birth and be exhibited through pre-term birth, low birth weight and lower head circumference. These in turn lead to neurodevelopmental as well as emotional and behavioral impacts in childhood. This is exhibited by shyness and social anxiety as children, as well as loneliness, social anxiety and depression as adolescents. Eventually these detriments are carried into adulthood where studies have shown that young adults experience adjustment disorder, panic disorder, social phobia, and depression.

While parents may have the best intentions in attempting to protect their children from stress, they would actually benefit from experiencing the stress. According to Hortrum (1994), it is important to teach children how to cope with stress rather than protecting them from stress. Allowing children to deal with stressful situations helps them develop resiliency and coping strategies.

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