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Journal of Pediatric Psychology Advance Access published online on October 9, 2008
Journal of Pediatric Psychology, doi:10.1093/jpepsy/jsn105
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Pediatric Psychology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Brief Report: Prediction of Children's Preoperative Anxiety by Mothers and Fathers

Caitlin Thompson, BA3, Jill E. MacLaren, PhD1, Anna Harris, MD2 and Zeev Kain, MD1

1Department of Pediatric Psychology, Children's; Hospital Orange County, 2Department of Anesthesiology, University of California, Irvine, and 3Department of Anesthesiology, Yale University

All correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Jill MacLaren, Department of Anesthesiology, University of California, Irvine 333 City West Blvd Orange California 92868, USA. E-mail: jmaclare{at}uci.edu


  Abstract

Objective To assess the ability of mothers and fathers at predicting children's anxiety at anesthesia induction. Methods Participants were parents and their children aged 2–12 years (n = 159). Parents predicted child anxiety using a Visual Analog Scale. Observed child anxiety was assessed using the Yale Preoperative Anxiety Scale. Results Results of linear regressions indicated that fathers' predictions were significantly related to children's anxiety, whereas mothers’ predictions were not. Baseline anxiety in mothers and fathers did not contribute to a model predicting children's observed anxiety. Child gender did not moderate the relations between fathers’ predictions and children's observed anxiety. Conclusions Fathers’ predictions of children's anxiety were related to children's observed anxiety at anesthesia induction; mothers’ predictions were not. Thus, fathers may be able to more accurately identify a need for intervention. Further research is needed to better explain discrepancies between mothers and fathers.

Key words: anxiety; father; parents; surgery.

Received January 25, 2008; revision received September 10, 2008; accepted September 10, 2008


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