Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Emotional Reasoning and Parent-Based Reasoning in Non-Clinical Children, and Their Prospective Relationships with Anxiety Symptoms

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Child Psychiatry and Human Development Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Emotional and parent-based reasoning refer to the tendency to rely on personal or parental anxiety response information rather than on objective danger information when estimating the dangerousness of a situation. This study investigated the prospective relationships of emotional and parent-based reasoning with anxiety symptoms in a sample of non-clinical children aged 8–14 years (n = 122). Children completed the anxiety subscales of the Revised Children’s Anxiety and Depression Scale (Muris et al. Clin Psychol Psychother 9:430–442, 2002) and provided danger ratings of scenarios that systematically combined objective danger and objective safety information with anxiety-response and positive-response information. These measurements were repeated 10 months later (range 8–11 months). Emotional and parent-based reasoning effects emerged on both occasions. In addition, both effects were modestly stable, but only in case of objective safety. Evidence was found that initial anxiety levels were positively related to emotional reasoning 10 months later. In addition, initial levels of emotional reasoning were positively related to anxiety at a later time, but only when age was taken into account. That is, this relationship changed with increasing age from positive to negative. No significant prospective relationships emerged between anxiety and parent-based reasoning. As yet the clinical implications of these findings are limited, although preliminary evidence indicates that interpretation bias can be modified to decrease anxiety.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Costello EJ, Angold A (1995) Epidemiology. In: March JS (ed) Anxiety disorders in children and adolescents. Guilford, New York

    Google Scholar 

  2. Verhulst FC (2001) Community and epidemiological aspects of anxiety disorders in children. In: Silverman WK (ed) Anxiety disorders in children and adolescents: research, assessment and intervention. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 273–92

    Google Scholar 

  3. Bell-Dolan DJ, Last CG, Strauss CC (1990) Symptoms of anxiety disorders in normal children. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 29:759–65

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Kendall PC (1985) Toward a cognitive-behavioral model of child psychopathology and a critique of related interventions. J Abnorm Child Psychol 13:357–72

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Daleiden EL, Vasey MW (1997) An information-processing perspective on childhood anxiety. Clin Psychol Rev 17:407–29

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Vasey MW, MacLeod C (2001) Information-processing factors in childhood anxiety: a review and developmental perspective. In: Vasey MW, Dadds MR (eds) The developmental psychopathology of anxiety. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 253–77

    Google Scholar 

  7. Hadwin J, Frost S, French CC, Richards A (1997) Cognitive processing and trait anxiety in typically developing children: evidence for an interpretation bias. J Abnorm Psychol 106:486–90

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Barrett PM, Rapee RM, Dadds MM, Ryan SM (1996) Family enhancement of cognitive style in anxious and aggressive children. J Abnorm Child Psychol 24:187–03

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Bell-Dolan DJ (1995) Social cue interpretation of anxious children. J Clin Child Psychol 24:1–0

    Google Scholar 

  10. Bögels SM, Snieder N, Kindt M (2003) Specificity of dysfunctional thinking in children with symptoms of social anxiety, separation anxiety and generalized anxiety. Behav Change 20:160–69

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Creswell C, Schniering CA, Rapee RM (2005) Threat interpretation in anxious children and their mothers: comparison with nonclinical children and the effects of treatment. Behav Res Ther 43: 1375–381

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Bögels SM, Zigterman D (2000) Dysfunctional cognitions in children with social phobia, separation anxiety disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder. J Abnorm Child Psychol 28:205–11

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Chorpita BF, Albano AM, Barlow DH (1996) Cognitive processing in children: relation to anxiety and family influences. J Clin Child Psychol 25:170–76

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Muris P, Merckelbach H, Damsma E (2000) Threat perception bias in nonreferred, socially anxious children. J Clin Child Psychol 29:348–59

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Muris P, Jacques P, Mayer B (2003) The stability of threat perception abnormalities and anxiety disorder symptoms in non-clinical children. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 34:251–65

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Muris P, Rapee RM, Meesters C, Schouten E, Geers M (2003) Threat perception abnormalities in children: the role of anxiety disorders symptoms, chronic anxiety, and state anxiety. J Anxiety Disord 17:271–87

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Clark DM (1999) Anxiety disorders: why they persist and how to treat them. Behav Res Ther 37: S5–S27

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Beck AT, Emery G, Greenberg RL (1985) Anxiety disorders and phobias. A cognitive perspective. Basic Books, New York

    Google Scholar 

  19. Arntz A, Rauner M, Van den Hout M (1995) “If I feel anxious, there must be danger” ex-consequentia reasoning in inferring danger in anxiety disorders. Behav Res Ther 33:917–25

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Engelhard IM, Macklin ML, McNally RJ, Van den Hout MA, Arntz A (2001) Emotion- and intrusion-based reasoning in Vietnam veterans with and without posttraumatic stress disorder. Behav Res Ther 39:1339–348

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Engelhard IM, Van den Hout MA, Arntz A, McNally RJ (2002) A longitudinal study of “intrusion-based reasoning” and posttraumatic stress disorder after exposure to a train disaster. Behav Res Ther 40:1415–424

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Mansell W, Clark DM (1999) How do I appear to others? Social anxiety and processing of the observable self. Behav Res Ther 39:419–34

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Papageorgiou C, Wells A (2002) Effects of heart rate information on anxiety, perspective taking, and performance in high and low social-evaluative anxiety. Behav Ther 33:181–99

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Mathews A, Mackintosh B (2000) Induced emotional interpretation bias and anxiety. J Abnorm Psychol 109:602–15

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Wilson EJ, MacLeod C, Mathews A, Rutherford EM (2006) The causal role of interpretive bias in anxiety reactivity. J Abnorm Psychol 115:103–11

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Muris P, Merckelbach H, Van Spauwen I (2003) The emotional reasoning heuristic in children. Behav Res Ther 41:261–72

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Muris P, Mayer B, Vermeulen L, Hiemstra H (2007) Theory-of-mind, cognitive development, and children’s interpretation of anxiety-related physical symptoms. Behav Res Ther 45:2121–132

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Muris P, Merckelbach H, Schepers S, Meesters C (2003) Anxiety, threat perception abnormalities, and emotional reasoning in normal children. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol 32:453–59

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Muris P, Vermeer E, Horselenberg R (2008) Cognitive development and the interpretation of anxiety-related physical symptoms in 4- to 13-year-old non-clinical children. J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry 39:73–6

    Google Scholar 

  30. Morren M, Muris P, Kindt M (2004) Emotional reasoning and parent-based reasoning in normal children. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 35:3–0

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Field AP, Argyris NG, Knowles KA (2001) Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf: a prospective paradigm to test Rachman’s indirect pathways in children. Behav Res Ther 39:1259–276

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Muris P, Bodden D, Merckelbach H, Ollendick TH, King N (2003) Fear of the beast: a prospective study on the effects of negative information on childhood fear. Behav Res Ther 41:195–08

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Rachman SJ (1991) Neoconditioning and the classical theory of fear acquisition. Clin Psychol Rev 11:155–73

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Manassis K (2000) Childhood anxiety disorders: lessons from the literature. Can J Psychiatry 45:724–30

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Ollendick TH, King NJ, Muris P (2002) Fears and phobias in children: phenomenology, epidemiology, and aetiology. Child Adolesc Ment Health 7:98–06

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Kindt M, Bierman D, Brosschot JF (1997) Cognitive bias in spider fear and control children: assessment of emotional interference by a card format and a single-trial format of the Stroop task. J Exp Child Psychol 66:163–79

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Camras LA, Sachs VB (1991) Social referencing and caretaker expression in a day care setting. Infant Behav Dev 14:27–6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Gerull FC, Rapee RM (2002) Mother knows best: effects of maternal modelling on the acquisition of fear and avoidance behaviour in toddlers. Behav Res Ther 40:279–87

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  39. Muris P, Meesters C, Smulders L, Mayer B (2005) Threat perception distortions and psychopathological symptoms in typically developing children. Infant Child Dev 14:273–85

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. MacLeod CM (1991) Half a century of research on the Stroop effect: an integrative review. Psychol Bull 109:163–03

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  41. Muris P, Meesters C, Schouten E (2002) A brief questionnaire of DSM-IV-defined anxiety and depression symptoms among children. Clin Psychol Psychother 9:430–42

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Morren M, Kindt M, Van den Hout M, Van Kasteren H (2003) Anxiety and the processing of threat in children: further examination of the cognitive inhibition hypothesis. Behav Change 20:131–42

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Spielberger CD (1973) Manual for the state-trait anxiety inventory for children. Consulting Psychologists Press, Palo Alto, CA

    Google Scholar 

  44. Baron RM, Kenny DA (1986) The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. J Pers Soc Psychol 51:1173–182

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  45. Rosen WD, Adamson LB, Bakeman R (1992) An experimental investigation of infant social referencing: mothers’ messages and gender differences. Dev Psychol 28:1172–178

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Mathews A, Ridgeway V, Cook E, Yiend J (2007) Inducing a benign interpretational bias reduces trait anxiety. J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry 38:225–36

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  47. Holmes EA, Mathews A, Dalgleish T, Mackintosh B (2006) Positive interpretation training: effects of mental imagery versus verbal training on positive mood. Behav Ther 37:237–47

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  48. Bijttebier P, Vasey MW, Braet C (2003) The information-processing paradigm: a valuable framework for clinical child and adolescent psychology. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol 32:2–

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. Mattijn Morren

    Present address: NIVEL, Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research, P.O. Box 1568, 3500 BN, Utrecht, The Netherlands

  2. Peter Muris

    Present address: Institute of Psychology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Burgemeester Oudlaan 50, Suite J15-31, P.O. Box 1738, 3000 DR, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

  3. Merel Kindt

    Present address: Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Roetersstraat 15, 1018 WB, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

  4. Marcel van den Hout

    Present address: Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80140, 3508 TC, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical, Clinical, and Experimental Psychology, Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    Mattijn Morren, Peter Muris, Merel Kindt, Erik Schouten & Marcel van den Hout

Authors
  1. Mattijn Morren
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Peter Muris
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Merel Kindt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Erik Schouten
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Marcel van den Hout
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mattijn Morren.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Morren, M., Muris, P., Kindt, M. et al. Emotional Reasoning and Parent-Based Reasoning in Non-Clinical Children, and Their Prospective Relationships with Anxiety Symptoms. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 39, 351–367 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-007-0091-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-007-0091-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation