(PS9-D87) Caregiver Distress About Child Anxiety Mediates the Relationship Between Vertical Individualism and Child Anxiety Symptoms

There has been little research on the effects of cultural orientation on caregiver perceptions of their child’s anxiety. High levels of vertical individualism (e.g., high regard for individual status, power, and competition) have been associated with negative mental health outcomes and stigma in adults (e.g., Yoon et al., 2020; DeLuca et al., 2020). Additionally, caregiver distress has predicted child mental health outcomes (e.g., Kelley et al., 2011). The current study examined cultural orientation (i.e., individualism and collectivism) in relation to child anxiety, and the potential mediating effect of caregiver distress about child anxiety.  Caregivers (N = 214; 29% fathers) of children ages 6-17 years who scored above a clinical cutoff on the Screen for Child Anxiety and Related Disorders-Parent version (SCARED-P) were recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk. Caregivers completed online self-report measures, including the Parental Attitudes, Beliefs, and Understanding of Anxiety scale (PABUA, with subscales for Overprotection, Distress, and Approach); the Culture Orientation Scale (with subscales for horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism); and the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale-Parent version (RCADS-P). Stratifying by caregiver-reported relationship to child/adolescent, multiple linear regression models were used to test whether Culture Orientation Scale scores significantly predicted RCADS-P total anxiety scores. The model was statistically significant for fathers (R² = .178, F(4, 58) = 3.14, p = .02) but not mothers. It was found that vertical individualism significantly predicted RCADS-P total anxiety scores in fathers (B = .89; p = .005); no other cultural orientations emerged as significant. Caregiver distress (e.g., “I feel uncertain about how to help my child when he/she is anxious”) was then tested as a potential mediator of the relationship between vertical individualism and RCADS-P total anxiety scores in fathers. The mediation effect was significant; 95% Bootstrapped CI [.09, .77]. Approximately 41% of the total effect of vertical individualism on child anxiety symptoms was found to operate indirectly (i.e., through mediation from caregiver distress). While the cross-sectional design of this study did not allow for temporal precedence to be established, findings suggest that cultural orientation may impact how caregivers respond to their child’s anxiety symptoms: higher levels of vertical individualism potentially contribute to greater levels of parental distress regarding their child’s anxiety, which in turn, may lead to greater anxiety symptoms in children. Further, findings underscore the need to study the unique influence of fathers’ parenting on child anxiety. Future studies evaluating the association between caregiver cultural orientation and child mental health could improve culturally sensitive assessment and treatment of anxiety disorders in youth.