Do Parental Psychopathology and Higher-Order Beliefs Predict Symptom Changes in Young People Following Metacognitive Therapy?

Preliminary evidence indicates that metacognitive therapy (MCT) is a promising treatment in children and adolescents; however, little is known about the influence of parental factors on MCT outcomes. Based on secondary analyses from a recent trial of MCT in young people with anxiety and depressive disorders, the aim of this study was to evaluate cross-sectional associations between child and parental symptoms, metacognitive beliefs and attention control beliefs and whether such parent variables predicted symptom scores following MCT. The sample consisted of 97 children and adolescents aged 10–17 years (M = 12.85 ± 1.9, 82.5% females) and their parents (n = 145, 57.9% mothers). The majority of the sample had a primary anxiety disorder (n = 96). Participants received eight sessions of MCT in transdiagnostic groups. The majority of baseline correlations were small and non-significant with some exceptions. Small significant relationships emerged between maternal attention shifting and child attention shifting, total attention control and symptoms. Also, child depressive symptoms were associated with maternal anxiety, maternal cognitive self-consciousness, and paternal attention control beliefs, with small to moderate effects. Parental factors did not predict symptom scores at post-treatment nor at 6-month follow-up. The findings should be considered preliminary and seen in light of the overall good mental health of the parents. If results are replicated in the future with broader samples, it suggests that MCT outcomes in young people may have little association with the symptoms and higher-order beliefs of parents.

Trial Registration: AsPredicted number: 152970