The mediating effect of cognitive development on children's worry elaboration
Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 26, 2026

Reducing State Anxiety Using Working Memory Maintenance
Published on: July 19, 2017
Rebecca M Grist1, Andy P Field
1School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, East Sussex BN1 9QH, UK.
Abstract:
The present study investigated how developmentally determined cognitive mechanisms, holding theoretical links to the worry process, mediate the relationship between Age and Worry Elaboration in children. Sixty-four children aged 3-7 (M = 5.58, SD = 1.28) were presented with a Conservation of Liquid task assessing their Cognitive Development (specifically Concrete Operational Skills), a false-belief task to measure possession of Belief-Desire Theory of Mind, and a task measuring the ability to acknowledge multiple possibilities. The ability to elaborate on potential negative outcomes was assessed using a Worry Elaboration task. Mediation analysis revealed that all three variables significantly mediated the relationship between Age and Worry Elaboration. A multiple mediation model is presented in which Concrete Operational Skills, Belief-Desire Theory of Mind and Multiple Possibilities understanding mediate the relationship between Age and Worry Elaboration.
Related Concept Videos
Cognitive Development During Adolescence
Information Processing Approach
The Influence of Cognition on Affect
Cognitive Theories: Lazarus Mediational Theory of Emotion
Cognitive Appraisal and Emotional Response
Lazarus proposed that emotions are not solely...
Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development from Childhood into Adulthood
Schemata: Building Blocks of Knowledge
Schemata...
Lazarus's Cognitive Appraisal Theory
Primary Appraisal:...

