(PS3-18) Mother-Child Discrepancies in Perceptions of Family Accommodation and their Relation to Child’s Anxiety

In cognitive-behavioral work with children, treatment plans often rely on parents’ reports of their child’s symptoms and the family environment. The current study tests whether discrepancies between mother and child perceptions of family accommodation is related to children’s anxiety levels. Family accommodation (FA) in relation to anxiety can be defined as changes in parents’ behaviors to alleviate their child’s anxiety (Norman et al., 2015). Mother-reported FA has been related to children’s anxiety outcomes (Lebowitz et al., 2013), but less is known about how children’s perceptions of FA relate to mothers’ perceptions of FA, and whether they are related to their anxiety. The current study aimed to test (1) whether mother-child discrepancies exist in perceptions of FA and (2) whether these discrepancies relate to children’s anxiety.

Participants were recruited from an ongoing longitudinal study with 232 mother-child dyads, recruited for socioeconomic diversity (64% classified as low income based on income-to-needs ratios). Seventy children (M = 12.144 years, SD = .854) have completed an adolescent follow-up for the current study, and remaining data collection will be complete by August 2025. Mothers and children report on their perceptions of FA (Family Accommodation Scale – Anxiety: Lebowitz et al., 2013) and their perceptions of the child’s anxiety (Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale; Ebesutani et al., 2012).

Bivariate correlations indicated that mothers’ perceptions of FA were moderately related to children’s perceptions of FA (r= .363, p = .005). A paired samples t-test indicated children reported slightly higher levels of maternal FA than mothers (t= 1.801, p = .077), suggesting discrepancies between perceptions of FA. A multiple regression moderation framework was used, consistent with De Los Reyes et al. (2016), to test the relation between discrepancies in FA reports and child anxiety. The interaction between mother- and child-reported FA did not relate to children’s self-reported anxiety (β = -.031, p = .824). A main effects model revealed that mother- (β = .165, p = .236) and child-reported FA (β = .162, p = .245) did not predict children’s self-reported anxiety. In relation to mother-reported child anxiety, the interaction between mother- and child-reported FA was not significant (β = .004, p = .967). A main effects model found that mother-reported FA is uniquely related to mothers’ perceptions of children’s anxiety (β = .337, p < .001), but child-reported FA was not (β = .118, p = .257).

The current study found that children may perceive more FA than mothers, but children’s perceptions were not related to their own anxiety reports. On the other hand, mothers’ perceptions of FA were related to their reports of their child’s anxiety. When mothers perceive their child as more anxious, they seem to accommodate more. Therapists should be aware of these discrepancies, especially when using parent management techniques to modify the home environment. The current findings highlight the importance of multiple FA and anxiety reports for an accurate depiction of the family environment and presenting concerns. Future work is needed to explore how discrepancies can be leveraged to change anxiety-maintaining family processes.