Correlation between Parenting Styles, Anxiety and Compliances of Pediatric Patient during Dental Treatment

Objectives: The study aimed at examining positive and/or negative correlations between parenting styles, anxiety, and compliances of pediatric patient during dental treatment.
Methods: This was an observational analytic study with cross sectional design. Patients (as subjects, n=60) aged 8-12 year-old, who had first visit for dental treatment (DT) at Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta Dental Hospital (tooth filling or extraction), were selected using purposive sampling. Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and Frankl Behavior Scale (FBS) used for measurement level of anxiety and compliance during DT. Parents were asked to fill out the parenting-styles (PS) questionnaire which highlight the characteristic of parenting styles (permissive, authoritative, or authoritarian). All data were analyzed using Spearman-correlation test.
Results: The result shows strong positive correlation between PS and anxiety (Coef.=0,262; p<0.05), as well DT and anxiety (Coef.=0,338; p<0,05). Strong negative correlations were found between PS and compliances, DT and compliances, anxiety and compliances (Coef.=-0.265,-0.458 and-0.843; respectively, p<0.05). No correlation was found between age and anxiety, likewise age and compliances.
Conclusions: In this study, parenting styles was strongly correlated to anxiety and compliances of pediatric patient. It is important to consider parenting styles to optimize physiological development, minimize anxiety, increase compliance or cooperativeness of children, especially during dental treatment.