Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Multi-informant Expectancies and Treatment Outcomes for Anxiety in Youth

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Child Psychiatry & Human Development Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Expectancies for a favorable treatment outcome have been associated with actual favorable outcomes but have been understudied in youth with anxiety. The current study applied structural equation modeling in a sample of anxious youth (N = 488; 7–17 years, M = 10.69, SD = 2.80) to examine whether a multi-informant latent expectancies factor, indicated by youth, parent, and therapist reports, predicted a latent posttreatment anxiety factor, controlling for a latent pretreatment anxiety factor. Both anxiety latent factors were indicated by youth, parent, and independent evaluator (IE) reports. Analyses also examined whether treatment condition (cognitive behavioral therapy, sertraline, combination, pill placebo) moderated the association between expectancies and outcome, and whether this association differed across development. Findings indicated that informant reports loaded similarly onto the latent factors. Results also demonstrated that treatment expectancies were positively associated with outcomes, and that this relationship held across treatment type and age group. Treatment implications and future research directions are discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Nock MK, Kazdin AE (2001) Parent expectancies for child therapy: Assessment and relation to participation in treatment. J Child Fam Stud 10(155–180):155

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Noble LM, Douglas BC, Newman SP (2001) What do patients expect of psychiatric services? A systematic and critical review of empirical studies. Soc Sci Med 52:985–998

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Arnkoff DB, Glass CR, Shapiro SJ (2002) Expectations and preferences. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  4. Krell HV, Leuchter AF, Morgan M, Cook IA, Abrams M (2004) Subject expectations of treatment effectiveness and outcome of treatment with an experimental antidepressant. J Clin Psychiat 65:1174–1179

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Greenberg RP, Constantino MJ, Bruce N (2006) Are patient expectations still relevant for psychotherapy process and outcome? Clin Psychol Rev 26:657–678

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Dew SE, Bickman L (2005) Client expectancies about therapy. Adm Policy Ment Health 7:21–33

    Google Scholar 

  7. Kendall PC (2003) Guiding theory for therapy with children and adolescents. Guilford Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  8. Burck C (1978) A study of families’ expectations and experiences of a child guidance clinic. Br J Soc Work 8:145–158

    Google Scholar 

  9. Day L, Reznikoff M (1980) Social class, the treatment process, and parents’ and children’s expectations about child psychotherapy. J Clin Child Psychol 9:195–198

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Furey WM, Basili LA (1988) Predicting consumer satisfaction in parent training for noncompliant children. Behav Ther 19:555–564

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Plunkett JW (1984) Parents’ treatment expectations and attrition from a child psychiatric service. J Clin Psychol 40:372–377

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Dakof GA, Tejeda M, Liddle HA (2001) Predictors of engagement in adolescent drug abuse treatment. J Am Acad Child Psychiatry 40:274–281

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Shuman AL, Shapiro JP (2002) The effects of preparing parents for child psychotherapy on accuracy of expectations and treatment attendance. Community Ment Health J 38:3–16

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Lewin AB, Peris TS, Lindsey BR, McCracken JT, Piacentini J (2011) The role of treatment expectancy in youth receiving exposure-based CBT for obsessive compulsive disorder. Behav Res Ther 49:536–543

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Curry J, Rohde P, Simons A, Silva S, Vitiello B, Kratochvil C et al (2006) Predictors and moderators of acute outcome in the Treatment for Adolescents With Depression Study (TADS). J Am Acad Child Psychiatry 45:1427–1439

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Kagan ER, Peterman JS, Carper MM, Kendall PC (2016) Accommodation and treatment of anxious youth. Depress Anxiety 33:840–847

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Wu MS, Caporino N, Peris TS, Perez J, Thamrin H, Albano AM et al (submitted) The impact of treatment expectations on exposure variables and treatment outcome in childhood anxiety disorders. J Abnorm Child Psychol

  18. Zehgeer A, Ginsburg GS, Lee P, Birmaher B, Walkup J, Kendall PC et al (2018) Pharmacotherapy adherence for pediatric anxiety disorders: Predictors and relation to child outcomes. Child Youth Care Forum 47:633–644

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Lee P, Zehgeer A, Ginsburg GS, McCracken J, Keeton C, Kendall PC et al (2017) Child and adolescent adherence with cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety: predictors and associations with outcomes. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol 27:1–12

    Google Scholar 

  20. Compton SN, Peris TS, Almirall D, Birmaher B, Sherrill J, Kendall PC et al (2014) Predictors and moderators of treatment response in childhood anxiety disorders: results from the CAMS trial. J Consult Clin Psychol 82:212–224

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Strawn JR, Dobson ET, Mills JA, Cornwall GJ, Sakolsky D, Birmaher B et al (2017) Placebo response in pediatric anxiety disorders: results from the child/adolescent anxiety multimodal study. J Child Adolsc Psychopharmacol 27:501–508

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Association AP (2000) American Psychiatric Association task force on DSM-IV. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-IV-TR, 4th edn. American Psychiatric Association, Washington DC

    Google Scholar 

  23. Walkup JT, Albano AM, Piacentini J, Birmaher B, Compton SN, Sherrill JT et al (2008) Cognitive behavioral therapy, sertraline, or a combination in childhood anxiety. N Engl J Med 359:2753–2766

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Kendall PC, Compton SN, Walkup JT, Birmaher B, Albano AM, Sherrill J et al (2010) Clinical characteristics of anxiety disordered youth. J Anxiety Disord 24:360–365

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Walkup J, Labellarte M, Riddle MA, Pine DS, Greenhill L, Fairbanks J et al (2002) Research Units on Pediatric Psychopharmacology Anxiety study group: treatment of pediatric anxiety disorders: an open-label extension of the research units on pediatric psychopharmacology anxiety study. J Child Adolsc Psychopharmacol 12:175–188

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Kendall PC, Hedtke KA (2006) Cognitive-behavioral therapy for anxious children: therapist manual. Workbook Publishing, Ardmore

    Google Scholar 

  27. Muthén L, Muthén B (2015) Mplus (Version 7.31). Muthén & Muthén, Los Angeles

    Google Scholar 

  28. Comer JS, Kendall PC (2004) A symptom-level examination of parent–child agreement in the diagnosis of anxious youths. J Am Acad Child Psychiatry 43:878–886

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. De Los Reyes A, Thomas SA, Swan AJ, Ehrlich KB, Reynolds EK et al (2012) “It depends on what you mean by ‘disagree’”: differences between parent and child perceptions of parent–child conflict. J Psychopathol Behav 34:293–307

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This research was supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH): U01 MH064089 to Dr. Walkup; U01 MH64092 to Dr. Albano; U01 MH64003 to Dr. Birmaher; U01 MH63747 to Dr. Kendall; U01 MH64088 to Dr. Piacentini; and U01 MH064003 to Dr. Compton. Views expressed within this article represent those of the authors and are not intended to represent the position of NIMH, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), or the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Sertraline and matching placebo were supplied free of charge by Pfizer.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Lesley A. Norris, Lara S. Rifkin, Thomas M. Olino & Philip C. Kendall

  2. Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    John Piacentini

  3. New York State Psychiatric Institute—Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA

    Anne Marie Albano

  4. Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Boris Birmaher

  5. Department of Psychiatry, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT, USA

    Golda Ginsburg

  6. Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York-Presbyterian, New York, NY, USA

    John Walkup

  7. Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA

    Scott N. Compton

  8. Department of Psychology, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Elizabeth Gosch

Authors
  1. Lesley A. Norris
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Lara S. Rifkin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Thomas M. Olino
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. John Piacentini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Anne Marie Albano
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Boris Birmaher
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Golda Ginsburg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. John Walkup
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Scott N. Compton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Elizabeth Gosch
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Philip C. Kendall
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lesley A. Norris.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

Dr. Piacentini has received grant or research support from NIMH, the TLC Foundation for Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors, the Tourette Association of America, and Pfizer Pharmaceuticals through the Duke University Clinical Research Institute Network. He is a co-author of the Child OCD Impact Scale-Revised (COIS-R), the Child Anxiety Impact Scale-Revised (CAIS-R), the Parent Tic Questionnaire (PTQ), and the Premonitory Urge for Tics Scale (PUTS) assessment tools, all of which are in the public domain therefore no royalties are received. He has received royalties from Guilford Press and Oxford University Press. He has served on the speakers’ bureau of the Tourette Association of America, the International Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Foundation, and the TLC Foundation for Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors. Dr. Albano has received royalties from Oxford University Press for the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule-Child and Parent Versions. Dr. Birmaher has received research support from NIMH. He has or will receive royalties from Random House, Inc., Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, and UpToDate. Dr. Ginsburg has received support from NIMH and from the US Department of Education/Institute of Education Sciences. Dr. Walkup has received research support from the Tourette Syndrome Association of America and the Hartwell Foundation. He has received honoraria and travel expenses for speaking engagements and meetings sponsored by the Tourette Association of America. He has received royalties from Guilford Press and Oxford University Press for multi-author books published about Tourette syndrome and from Wolters Kluwer for CME activity on childhood anxiety. He has served as an unpaid advisor to the Anxiety Disorders Association of America and the Trichotillomania Learning Center. He has served as a paid speaker for the Tourette Syndrome Center for Disease Control and Prevention outreach educational programs, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the American Psychiatric Association. Dr. Compton has received research support from NIMH, NC GlaxoSmithKline Foundation, Pfizer, and Mursion, Inc. He has served as a consultant for Shire and Mursion, Inc. He has received honoraria from the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, the Nordic Long-Term OCD Treatment Study Research Group, and the Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Eastern and Southern Norway. He has served on the scientific advisory board of Tourette Association of America and Mursion, Inc. He has presented expert testimony for Duke University. Dr. Kendall has received royalties from the sales of materials related to the treatment of anxiety disorders in youth. Ms. Norris, Ms. Rifkin, and Drs. Olino and Gosch report no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Norris, L.A., Rifkin, L.S., Olino, T.M. et al. Multi-informant Expectancies and Treatment Outcomes for Anxiety in Youth. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 50, 1002–1010 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-019-00900-w

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-019-00900-w

Keywords

Search

Navigation