MATERNAL PANIC DISORDER--INFANT TEMPERAMENT & ATTACHMENT

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Childhood anxiety is remarkably prevalent, may not remit and can interfere significantly with children's lives. The overall aim of this research is to determine the contributions of temperament, attachment and the mother- child relationship to the development of childhood anxiety disorders. Children of parents with panic disorder and agoraphobia (PDAG) and children with behavioral inhibition have been shown to be at increased risk for anxiety disorders (Biederman et al., 1993; Silverman et al., 1988; Weissman et al., 1984). This research will compare infants of mothers with PDAG to infants of mothers without psychopathology. Four to six-month-old infants will be examined for "high reactivity." Kagan (1994) has found that "highly reactive" four-month-old infants who show high motor activity and cry in response to novel stimuli demonstrate behavioral inhibition later. The mother-child relationship will be examined using Ainsworth's scales of sensitivity/insensitivity and cooperation/interference (Ainsworth et al., 1969). Differences between mothers on these ~scales have been linked to different attachment classifications and to later behavioral problems including anxiety (Egeland et al., 1993). Twelve to eighteen-month-old infants will be examined for behavioral inhibition -(Kagan, 1994) and for insecure ambivalent attachment with the Strange Situation Procedure (Ainsworth et al., 1978). It is hypothesized that infants (;f parents with PDAG will show more high reactivity, behavioral inhibition, insensitive and interfering parent-child relationships, and insecure ambivalent attachment than controls. The relative contributions of temperament and parent-child relationships will also be explored at each age.