Adolescent's perceptions of parenting behaviours and its relationship to adolescent Generalized Anxiety Disorder symptoms

This study examined the relationship between how adolescents perceived parenting behaviours and adolescent Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) symptom scores. The 1106 junior high and high school students (12–19 years old; 49.6% males and 50.4% females) completed questionnaires regarding their perception of parenting behaviours and self-rated symptoms of GAD. The findings of this study demonstrate that adolescent perceptions of parental alienation and rejection are strongly associated with adolescent GAD symptom scores. Additionally, mid-adolescence females perceive more parental alienation in relation to their GAD symptom scores than both early and mid-adolescent males. And early adolescent males perceive more parental rejection in relation to their GAD symptom scores than mid-adolescent males.