SynthesisJournal of affective disorders2021
Systematic review of the link between maternal anxiety and overprotection.
Synthesis in Journal of affective disorders, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 49 citations in OpenAlex.
- Perinatal Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms and Maternal Parenting Behavior During the First Three Years Postpartum: A Systematic Review.Depression and anxiety · 2025Pooled it
- Parenting as a Moderator of the Relation Between Child Inhibited Temperament and Anxiety in Western Contexts: A Systematic Review.Clinical child and family psychology review · 2024Pooled it
- Risk and protective factors for consistent family routines among caregivers with preschool-age children.Child abuse & neglect · 2026Article
- Associations Between Maternal Cumulative Psychological Distress and Child Subsequent Social Competence: The Role of Early Childhood Education and Care and Social Networks.Scandinavian journal of psychology · 2026Article
- Parental Overprotection and Locus of Control as the Mechanisms Explaining the Relationship Between Parent and Child Anxiety: A Multiple Mediation Model.Child psychiatry and human development · 2026Article
- Article
- Participation in early childhood education and care in Finland mitigates the associations between maternal psychological distress and child social and emotional problems at age two.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2026Article
- Different Trajectories, Stable Links: Parental Worry and Child Internalizing Symptoms Over Time.Journal of youth and adolescence · 2025Article
- Osteogenesis imperfecta and the family: A qualitative analysis of the experiences of family and caregivers.Families, systems & health : the journal of collaborative family healthcare · 2025Article
- Parental psychopathology, family conflict, brain function, and child autistic-like traits in early adolescents.Psychological medicine · 2025Article
- Exploring and comparing the relationship between maternal anxiety and children's anxiety during admission, hospitalization, and discharge in pediatric wards of Iranian hospitals.BMC psychology · 2024Article
- The Unique Impacts of COVID-19 on Low-Income and Diverse Canadian Women's Mental Health Profiles: A Latent Transition Analysis.Maternal and child health journal · 2024Article
- Role of self-criticism in postpartum mental health: a network analysis.Psicologia, reflexao e critica : revista semestral do Departamento de Psicologia da UFRGS · 2024Article
- Inadequate care and excessive overprotection during childhood are associated with the presence of diabetes mellitus in adulthood in a general Japanese population: a cross-sectional analysis from the Hisayama Study.BMC endocrine disorders · 2023Article
- Family caregiver's concerns and anxiety about unaccompanied out-of-home activities of persons with cognitive impairment.BMC geriatrics · 2023Article
- Bidirectional Associations Between Friend Overprotection and Psychosocial Adjustment During Adolescence.Journal of youth and adolescence · 2023Article
- Assessing bidirectional relations between infant temperamental negative affect, maternal anxiety symptoms and infant affect-biased attention across the first 24-months of life.Developmental psychology · 2023Article
- Becoming a Teenager after Early Surgical Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD) Repair: Longitudinal Biopsychological Data on Mental Health and Maternal Involvement.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Article
- Childhood inhibition predicts adolescent social anxiety: Findings from a longitudinal twin study.Development and psychopathology · 2022Article
- Maternal symptoms of depression and anxiety during the postpartum period moderate infants' neural response to emotional faces of their mother and of female strangers.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundTheoretical and empirical evidence suggests that maternal anxiety relates to overprotection, yet studies have found conflicting evidence. The literature would benefit from a systematic review.
methodsIn April 2020, a systematic review on the relation between maternal anxiety and overprotection was conducted. The search was updated in January 2021. A total of 13 articles were included.
resultsOf 16 reported bivariate correlations, 12 showed that maternal anxiety accounted for significant variance in overprotection (7 reported a small effect and 5 reported a medium effect). In a group differences study, mothers with anxiety showed greater overprotection. Additionally, in 4 out of 7 multivariate relations maternal anxiety accounted for significant variance in overprotection over and above other factors while 3 suggested that maternal anxiety did not account for significant variance in overprotection. In a multivariate, longitudinal study, maternal anxiety predicted overprotection, over and above other factors. Given conflicting evidence, we evaluated article's methodological strength and found stronger evidence supporting a small to medium size relation compared to evidence supporting no significant relation. LIMITATIONS: We report ranges of coefficients and effect sizes, but meta-analytic results are needed to determine the magnitude of these relations based on various factors. More longitudinal studies are needed to determine directionality.
conclusionsAlthough the literature shows conflicting results, the present review supports that maternal anxiety relates to overprotection, though the effect of this relation is small to medium. It may be beneficial to incorporate mental health for parents into existing parenting interventions.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.