This study focused on the way in which parents' emotion socialization practices and children's emotional competence may be related to childhood anxiety disorders. The current study had three basic aims: 1) to examine the relationship between parents' emotion socialization practices (i.e., parents' use of negative emotion words, parents' response to emotion-related discussions, parents' use of explanatory discussion) and anxiety symptoms in children; 2) to examine the relationship between aspects of children's emotional competence (i.e., emotion regulation and expression) and anxiety symptoms in children; and 3) to examine the role that aspects of children's emotional competence play in the relation between parents' emotion socialization practices and anxiety symptoms in children. Results of this study revealed that more frequent use of negative emotion words, explanations, and encouragement by mothers in emotion-related discussions with their children was significantly related to levels of anxiety symptoms reported by children. Additionally, emotion dysregulation in children was positively related to levels of anxiety reported by children. These results have implications for the development of parenting and emotion regulation components in interventions for the treatment anxiety disorders in children Keywords: anxiety, emotion socialization, emotional competence, children
