Purpose – Anxiety disorders have a high prevalence in children. Those children with anxious symptoms are more likely to experience significant disruption in their lives. This disruption can interrupt or even stop a child from participating in a variety of typical childhood experiences. It is understood that genetic and environmental factors may cause this disorder. The purpose of this paper is to focus on environmental factors, namely, the mediating role of maladaptive schemas in mothers’ child-rearing and childhood anxiety disorders. Design/methodology/approach – This study used correlation-modeling to assess the analysis. The sample included 326 students (aged 9-12 years old) and their mothers. The parenting style (Baumrind, 1973), Early Maladaptive Schema (Rijkeboer and de Boo, 2010), and anxiety disorders (Muris et al., 2006) questionnaires were used in this study. Findings – The results showed a relationship between parenting styles of mothers and childhood anxiety disorders, a significant correlation between childhood maladaptive schemas and childhood anxiety disorders, a relation between child-rearing styles and childhood maladaptive schemas, and finally a mediating role on childhood anxiety disorders and mothers’ child-rearing styles for some childhood maladaptive schemas. Originality/value – This research contributes to the knowledge base of the importance of children’s mental health. The paper analyzes the relationship of mothers’ parenting styles and children’s anxiety. It also focuses on maladaptive schemas as a mediator and its relationship with childhood anxiety disorders.
