Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Parenting Style with Dental Fear and Anxiety in Children Aged 6 - 15 Years

Abstract

Introduction: The child's relationship with the dentist is the product of complex interactions between the patient, parents, and the dentist. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of emotional intelligence and parenting style on the child's dental anxiety and fear. Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, the patients aged 6 to 15 years with their parents who referred to Shahid Sadoughi Dental School in Yazd were selected through simple method. The MCDAS and CFSS-DS questionnaires were used to measure anxiety and fear, respectively, and the level of emotional intelligence and parenting style were measured by the Shering and Baumrind questionnaires, respectively. Data were analyzed via SPSS16, and T_Test, ANOVA were utilized. Results: Out of 120 participants, 39 were boys and 81 were girls. The mean age range of the children was 9.31 ± 2.46 years and parents' mean age was 37.60 ± 4.82. There was no significant relationship between parenting style and child's dental fear and anxiety (P=0.492 and P=0.769, respectively) and between parent's emotional intelligence and child's dental anxiety (P=0.053), but there was an inverse and significant relationship between parent's emotional intelligence and child's dental fear (r=0.274 and P=0.003). Conclusion: The results of the present study showed that the parenting style has no significant relationship with child's dental fear and anxiety and also the parent's emotional intelligence with the child's dental anxiety, but the parent's emotional intelligence has an inverse and significant relationship with the child's dental fear.

Keywords

• dental anxiety
• emotional intelligence
• dental fear
• parenting style.