Parenting clinically anxious versus healthy control children aged 4–12 years

•This study used a unique questionnaire to assess parenting behaviors.•Parents of anxious children used more positive and negative parenting than controls.•For (anxious) children, fathers used more punishment and modeling than mothers.•For anxious children, parents used more force with their younger than older children.•For child treatment, it is important to assess maternal and paternal parenting.

This study investigated whether parenting behaviors differed between parents of 68 clinically anxious children and 106 healthy control children aged 4–12 years. The effects of parent gender, child gender and child age on parenting were explored. Mothers and fathers completed a questionnaire to assess parenting behaviors in for children hypothetically anxious situations. Results showed that parents of clinically anxious children reported more anxiety-enhancing parenting (reinforcement of dependency and punishment) as well as more positive parenting (positive reinforcement). For the clinical sample, fathers reported using more modeling/reassurance than mothers, and parents reported using more force with their 4–7-year-olds than with their 8–12-year-olds. No interaction effects were found for child gender with child anxiety status on parenting. Results indicate that for intervention, it is important to measure parenting behaviors, and to take into account father and mother differences and the age of the child.