Mapping the Relationships between Dimensions of Child Anxiety, Parental Anxiety, and Family Accommodation: A Network Analysis

Parental anxiety and family accommodation have been implicated in the development and maintenance of child anxiety, yet their relationships with specific child anxiety dimensions remain unclear. This study applied network analysis to examine these interconnections in a clinical sample of 433 children with primary anxiety disorders. The estimated network revealed that family accommodation was strongly associated with separation anxiety. Generalized and panic/somatic anxiety were the most interconnected child anxiety dimensions, whereas social anxiety and parental anxiety were the least. Clustering analysis identified two groups: one comprising family accommodation, parental anxiety, and separation anxiety, and another including all other child anxiety dimensions. Stability metrics supported confidence in the network's structure, and network comparisons revealed no significant structural differences across informants or age groups. These findings provide further insight into the relationships between parental factors and child anxiety dimensions, particularly the strong link between family accommodation and separation anxiety.