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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2022 Dec 1.
Published in final edited form as: J Affect Disord. 2021 Aug 31;295:541–551. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2021.08.065

Table 1.

Description of Retained Studies.

Study n, race, sample Child Age (Range, M, SD) Maternal Anxiety Measure Overprotection Measure Method Design Results of relation between anxiety and overprotection Strength of methodology/Risk of bias score
Bayer et al., 2019 n = 545 parents (94% mothers);
Race/ethnicity not reported; Recruited if child was inhibited;
Australia
M = 4.5 years, SD = 0.4 DASS (anxiety subscale) Bayer et al.’s (2006, 2010) overinvolve d/protective parenting scale Correlation; Longitudinal DASS and overinvolved/protective at age 4 (r = .20), age 5 (r = .13), age 6 (r = .08) 5
Booker et al., 2018 n = 113 (not specified how many mothers versus fathers but data is reported separately for mothers and fathers); Race and ethnicity not reported;
Children from a clinical sample; United States
6–15 years (M = 8.77 years, SD = 1.75) BSI (anxiety subscale) PBI (self-report and child report) Correlation and multivariate; Cross-sectional BSI and PBI (self-report; r = .07)
BSI and PBI (child-report; r = .31); BSI did not uniquely predict overprotection for the self-report PBI over and above months since intervention, treatment group (trends over time), and maternal grandmother’s level of overprotection (b = 0.22, SE = 0.18; d = 0.06); or the child-report PBI over and above months since intervention and child gender (b = −0.27, SE = 0.29; d = −0.07).
5
Clarke et al., 2013 n = 90; 89% White British Origin; Children were clinical sample and non-clinical controls;
English
7–12 years (M = 9.30 years, SD = 1.40) DASS (anxiety subscale) OP Multivariate; Cross-sectional Association between DASS (anxiety subscale) and OP controlling for child age and maternal depression (ß = 0.27, b = 0.63, SE = 0.29). 3
Cooklin et al., 2013 n = 3,103;
Race/ethnicity not reported; Community sample; Australia
Wave 1: 3–12 months
Wave 2: 2–3 years
MSAS Bayer et al.’s (2006, 2010) overinvolve d/protective parenting scale SEM;
Longitudinal
MSAS wave 1 and overprotective parenting wave 2 (ß=.49) 3
Creswell et al., 2013 n = 88; 81.82% White British Origin; Children were clinical sample; Mothers were half clinical sample and half non-clinical sample;
England
7–12 years ADIS; DASS (anxiety subscale) Observed behaviors in 3 tasks (i.e., speech, tangram puzzles, and black box); Measured dichotomously Group differences;
Cross-sectional
Maternal anxiety group differences in overprotection (b = 0.12, 95% CI = [0.001, 20.95]) 1
Fliek et al., 2015 n = 105; Did not report race/ethnicity; Community sample;
Belgium
2–6 years (M = 4.27 years, SD = 1.07) STAI POM Correlation; Cross-sectional STAI and POM (r = .02) 4
Gibler et al., 2018 n = 94; 92.55%
European American, 1.06% African American, 4.26% Asian American, 2.13% Latina;
Community sample;
United States
n = 60 (M = 14.11 months, SD = 1.34); n = 34 (M = 26.59 months, SD = 1.93) DASS (anxiety subscale) CRPR (overprotection subscale) Correlation and multivariate; Cross-sectional DASS and CRPR (r = .15); Path between DASS and CRPR in model of relations among paternal anxiety, maternal anxiety, paternal overprotection, maternal overprotection, and child anxiety risk (b = 0.10, SE = 0.08) 4
Kalomiris & Kiel, 2016 n = 117; 87% European American, 3% African American, 5% Asian American, 1% American Indian, 2% other, 1% Latina; Community sample; United States 23.97–27.00 months (M = 24.71 months) PSWQ NFV; Observed behaviors (composite of behaviors during interaction with a clown and a puppet show) Correlation; Cross-sectional PSWQ and NFV (r = .23)
PSWQ and Observed OP (r = .14) Association between PSWQ and NFV (b = 0.11, SE = 0.05, t = 2.14, p = 0.36) and PSWQ and observed OP (b = 0.02, SE = 0.01, t = 1.15, p = 0.253 controlling for primiparous motherhood
2
Kiel & Maack, 2012 n = 91; 90% European American, 2% African American, 6% Asian American, 2% Other;
Community sample;
United States
(M = 24.74 months, SD = 0.70) SIAS NFV Correlation; Cross-sectional SIAS and NFV (r = .06) 4
Kiel et al., 2019 n = 108; 88.0% European American, 1.9% African American, 3.7% Asian or Pacific Islander, 0.9% Native American; 0.9% Other; 1.9% Hispanic or Latina;
Community sample;
United States
24 to 30 months old (M = 26.84 months, SD = 2.10 months) DASS (anxiety subscale); PSWQ; SIAS NFV Correlation; Cross-sectional DASS and NFV (r = .36);
PSWQ and NFV (r = .34);
SIAS and NFV (r = .26)
4
Orgilés et al., 2018 n = 235; Race/ethnicity not reported;
Community sample; Spain
3–6 years (M = 4.07 years, SD = 1.11) STAI PEE Multivariate; Cross-sectional STAI and PEE (r = .41); STAI on PEE over and above child sex, child age, # of siblings, maternal age, and assertive, punitive, and inhibited parenting, (ß = .12, SE = 0.02, 95% CI = [0.08, 0.15], p < 0.001) 4
Pereira et al., 2014 n = 80 (not specified how many mothers versus fathers but data is reported separately for mothers and fathers); Race/ethnicity not reported; Children were clinical sample and non-clinical controls;
Portugal
7–12 years (M = 9.84 years, SD = 1.23) STAI EASP Correlation; Cross-sectional STAI and EASP (r = .42) 4
Root et al., 2016 n = 66; 97% Caucasian, 3% did not report;
Community sample;
United States
4-year olds (M = 50.95 months, SD = 1.35) Composite of the Leary Interaction Anxiousness Scale and the Cheek and Buss Shyness Scale CRPR (overprotective subscale) Multivariate Anxiety composite and CRPR (r = .21); In moderation analysis, maternal anxiety related to overprotection at mean and low vagal regulation (i.e., mean RSA; ß = .24, low ß = .50) 4

Note. n = number of mothers in the study unless specified that total n is fathers and mothers.