Children Awaiting Invasive Medical Procedures: Do Children and Their Mothers Agree on Child's Level of Anxiety?

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Abstract
Examined correspondence between mother and child reports of child anxiety immediately preceding a scheduled invasive medical procedure. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAIC) was administered to 101 children ages 10–18 years. Mothers completed the STAIC and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory to assess their perceptions of the child's anxiety and their own level of anxiety, respectively. Children were reported to have significantly more state anxiety as perceived by themselves and their mothers relative to the normative sample. Results also revealed low overall mother—child correspondence on child anxiety, particularly for mothers reporting more anxiety in themselves. Additionally, while age, gender, and socioeconomic status were not associated with mother-child correspondence, an unexpected relationship between race and correspondence emerged. Overall, our findings indicate that reliance on parents' perceptions of child anxiety prior to an invasive medical precedure is not sufficient.

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