Intergenerational Transmission of Anxiety: Parental Anxiety, Parenting Behaviour, and Child Anxiety in Kano State

This study examines the intergenerational transmission of anxiety, exploring how parental anxiety influences parenting behaviour and in turn predicts child anxiety among families in Kano State, North West Nigeria. Although anxiety is among the most prevalent mental health conditions globally, its intergenerational pathways have rarely been examined in Nigerian family contexts. This research employed a dyadic cross-sectional design involving 260 parent-child pairs recruited from four primary health centres in Kano metropolis. Parental anxiety was assessed using the Generalised Anxiety Disorder scale, parenting behaviour using the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire, and child anxiety using the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale. Path analysis within a structural equation modelling framework tested a sequential mediation model with overprotective and inconsistent parenting as mediators. Results indicate that parental anxiety predicts child anxiety directly and indirectly through overprotective parenting behaviours, with the mediated pathway accounting for 38 percent of the total effect. Maternal anxiety showed a stronger intergenerational transmission pathway than paternal anxiety. Warm parenting significantly attenuated the transmission effect when coexisting with anxiety. The study provides original empirical evidence for anxiety transmission mechanisms in Hausa-Fulani family contexts and recommends family-based interventions that address parental mental health alongside parenting skill development in Kano State. Keywords: intergenerational transmission, anxiety, parenting behaviour, Kano State, structural equation modelling.