Commentary: The complexity of family dynamics in child anxiety disorders - a commentary on Breinholst et al. (2018)

Jill Domoney; Selina Nath

doi:10.1111/camh.12283

Commentary: The complexity of family dynamics in child anxiety disorders - a commentary on Breinholst et al. (2018)

Child Adolesc Ment Health. 2019 Feb;24(1):51-53. doi: 10.1111/camh.12283. Epub 2018 Dec 3.

Authors

Jill Domoney¹, Selina Nath¹

Affiliation

¹ Section of Women's Mental Health, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, UK.

PMID: 32677226
DOI: 10.1111/camh.12283

Abstract

Breinholst et al. explore the impact of parental behaviour and parent-child attachment on child anxiety disorders. They show that maternal variables did not predict child anxiety, while insecure attachment to the father was a significant contributor. But can we really say it's down to dad? The importance of including fathers in both research and clinical work on child anxiety disorders certainly needs to be highlighted, but family dynamics are complex, and we need careful study designs which can capture some of this complexity in order to shed light on the most important targets for intervention.

Keywords: Parent-child relationships; anxiety; attachment.