Paternal Looming Cognitive Style and Worry in Children: TheMediating Role of Anxiety Sensitivity and Intolerance ofUncertainty

The looming cognitive style is hypothesized as an overarching cognitive vulnerability specific to anxiety disorders. The looming cognitive style refers to a tendency to generate, maintain, and attend to internally generated scenarios of increasing danger and rapidly rising risk. The present study investigated the link between parental looming cognitive style and anxiety, distorted cognitions and the looming cognitive style in their children. A sample of 216 university students (98 boys, 118 girls) were recruited through a multi-stage cluster sampling procedure. All participants ranged in age from 18 to 20 years. Data were collected using measures tapping anxiety sensitivity, intolerance of uncertainty, worry, cognitive distortions and looming cognitive style. The looming cognitive style of fathers was significantly related to worry and looming cognitive style in the children. Similarly, the looming cognitive style of mothers was significantly related to intolerance of uncertainty in the children. Analyses of moderating and mediating factors revealed anxiety sensitivity and intolerance of uncertainty as mediating factors in the association between paternal looming cognitive style and children’s looming cognitive style and worry. These results imply that parental cognitive vulnerabilities may contribute to emotional difficulties as well as cognitive vulnerabilities. Findings lend further support to past studies providing evidence that the looming cognitive style is related to bias in threat processing.

Keywords:

looming cognitive style , anxiety sensitivity , intolerance of uncertainty , worry