Familial Mechanisms of Anxiety in Latino Children

描述（由申请人提供）：焦虑症是影响儿童和青少年的最普遍的精神障碍之一，并与各种心理社会领域的负面结果相关（Ollendick & King, 1994; Weiss & Last, 2001）。尽管在确定儿童期焦虑发展和维持的机制方面取得了许多进展，但大多数发现主要是基于白人和非拉丁裔样本（Safren等，2000）。我们对拉美裔青年焦虑途径的理解仍存在很大差距。这是一个严重的问题，因为拉丁裔青年是美国人口中增长最快的一部分，他们有发展为焦虑的风险，并且在焦虑治疗方面得不到充分的服务（Anderson & Mayes, 2010； Hough等人，2002;Varela & Hensley-Maloney, 2009）。干预措施缺乏文化有效性是拉丁裔家庭寻求治疗行为的障碍，并损害了所提供干预措施的有效性（Snowden & Yamada, 2005）。因此，迫切需要进行研究，例如，通过确定相关的文化和背景风险因素，为拉丁裔儿童焦虑症的社会心理干预措施的发展提供信息。为了解决这个问题

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Anxiety disorders are among the most prevalent psychiatric disorders affecting children and adolescents, and are associated with negative outcomes in a variety of psychosocial domains (Ollendick & King, 1994; Weiss & Last, 2001). Although many advances have been made in identifying the mechanisms of anxiety development and maintenance in childhood, the majority of findings have been based on predominantly White, non-Latino samples (Safren et al., 2000). Wide gaps remain in our understanding of pathways to anxiety in Latino youth. This is a serious problem given that Latino youth are the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population, are at risk for developing anxiety, and are underserved with respect to treatment for anxiety (Anderson & Mayes, 2010; Hough et al., 2002; Varela & Hensley-Maloney, 2009). Lack of cultural validity of interventions is a barrier to treatment-seeking behavior among Latino families and compromises the efficacy of interventions provided (Snowden & Yamada, 2005). Therefore, studies that can inform the development of psychosocial interventions for anxiety disorders in Latino children, for example, by identifying relevant cultural and contextual risk factors, are urgently needed. To address this gap in the literature, the proposed study targets one familial risk factor in the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders (i.e., parental control) in the context of a Latino cultural framework. The specific aim of the proposed study is to examine whether parental control confers risk for developing anxiety disorders in Latino children through the same mechanism as it does for European American children (i.e., through a diminished perception of control), and whether this cognitive diathesis is dependent on children's cultural values regarding parental authority and on parent-child acculturative values gaps (i.e., diverging perceptions of normative parenting practices between children and their parents).These questions will be examined among a sample of 106 Latino children aged 7-13 who are either clinically anxious or are free of any psychiatric diagnosis. Families will be administered a combination of well-established and innovative measures in a laboratory setting. Measures will include culturally-valid diagnostic interviews, ecologically-valid vignettes, and self-report measures. By examining mechanisms of clinical anxiety in a culturally-informed context, the proposed research has the potential to make a significant contribution to our understanding of anxiety in Latino children. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Anxiety disorders are among the most common psychiatric disorders affecting children and adolescents, generally following an intractable course and leading to wide-ranging impairment in functioning if left untreated. Latino youth are the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population and are at risk for developing anxiety relative to youth of other ethnicities; however, a growing body of research suggests that current models of anxiety etiology and maintenance may lack validity within this population. By examining familial mechanisms of anxiety in Latino children, findings from this study may contribute to the development of culturally-valid interventions.