The Contributions of Behavioral Inhibition, Parental Overinvolvement, and Resilience to the Emergence of Anxiety in Adulthood

Anxiety disorders are among the most common psychiatric diagnoses for young adults. While previous research identifies behavioral inhibition and parental overinvolvement as risk factors for the later manifestation of anxiety symptoms, little research examines these constructs together in the developmental course of anxiety in young adulthood. The current study examined the relative contributions of these risk factors, as well as the prominent protective factor of resilience, to the experience of anxiety symptoms in young adults. Young adults aged 18 to 35 years completed an online survey via Qualtrics to assess study constructs. Two multiple linear regressions then analyzed the relationships between the proposed predictors and anxiety symptoms. The first examined the current report of predictor variables by participants, whereas the second added the retrospective report (i.e., during childhood) of predictor variables. Study hypotheses were proposed as follows: resilience would be the strongest predictor of anxiety symptoms within the primary regression model; parental overinvolvement and behavioral inhibition would be significantly associated with resilience; and retrospective behavioral inhibition would be less predictive of anxiety symptoms than current behavioral inhibition. Behavioral inhibition was observed as a significant predictor of anxiety symptoms within both regression models, whereas parental overinvolvement was only a significant predictor within the first model. Notably, parental overinvolvement demonstrated an inverse relationship with anxiety symptoms. The findings support the substantial contribution of behavioral inhibition, relative to parental overinvolvement and resilience, to the development of anxiety symptoms in young adults.