Can Anxiety Affect Relationships

Love In, Love Out: A Compassionate Approach to Parenting Your Anxious Child

An indispensable guide helping parents to understand and recognise various forms of anxiety and how to empower their children in developing adaptive coping strategies.

Role of the Health Practitioner in Family Relationships

The Quality of the Relationship Between Mothers and Their Drug Exposed Infants and Its Implications for the Child's Mental Health

The purpose of this study was to better understand the relationship between drug exposed infants and their mothers and how this relationship may be associated with mental health outcomes for the child. Hypotheses predicted that drug exposed infants and their mothers would have more relationship impairment and a higher incidence of relationship disorders than non-drug exposed infants and their mothers. It was also hypothesized that greater relationship impairment would be associated with worse adaptive social behavior and more emotional and behavioral problems for children. A nested case-control design was used, involving secondary analysis of data collected from a larger prospective cohort study. Two measures were used to assess relationship problems: the Parent-Infant Relationship Global Assessment Scale and a Videotape Rating Scale for Relationship Disorders that was developed as part of this study. Both measures were based upon Axis II of the Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood. These measures were used to code videotaped, feeding interactions that occurred of the infant in the home at 3 months of age. When the child was 2 years of age, adaptive social behavior was measured with the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales and emotional and behavioral problems were assessed using the Child Behavior Checklist. Results indicated that, in general, drug detailed comparison of drug exposed and non-drug exposed dyads indicated a higher incidence of specific relationship disorders among drug exposed dyads. The most prominent relationship problems were over-involvement and a mixed relationship disorder that included a gestalt of neglect, anxiety and anger/hostility. Relationship impairment was associated with better adaptive social behavior by the child in domains such as daily living skills and socialization. This finding suggests that children in more dysfunctional relationships may learn to readily comply with their mother's demands to avoid feared consequences and to become more self-sufficient in the face of maternal neglect or insensitivity. Relationships that involved anger and hostility predicted more depression, anxiety and withdrawal for children at age two.