The Relationship Between Generalized Anxiety In Mothers And Social Activity In Their Children's Free Play

The relationship between generalized anxiety in mothers and social activity in their children's free play was investigated by means of a behavior check-list and the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale. Thirty-six children were observed in three different nursery schools or daycare centers for ten days. These observations of their play were correlated with their mothers' anxiety scores and a small negative correlation, significant at the .10 level, was found. Analyses of variance were calculated among groups of nursery schools. These indicate that the children were more socially active toward children in the non-university-operated program and more socially active toward adults in a program that had more adults available. It also indicated that boys in the non-university program were less inclined to social interaction with adults than were girls.