Anxiety describes heightened, persistent fears and worries about everyday events. Approximately a third of Americans will experience a clinical anxiety disorder. There may be many Americans whose anxiety is not debilitating enough for a clinical diagnosis, but still experience anxiety symptoms. To understand the etiology of anxiety, it is important to study those with anxiety problems in addition to those with clinical anxiety. Anxiety problems may begin or escalate during emerging adulthood, a challenging phase of life fraught with social changes that can be stressful and lead to anxiety problems for some emerging adults. Anxiety problems have disproportionate consequences for African Americans emerging adults compared to White Americans. Despite this, few studies have examined factors associated with anxiety during emerging adulthood among African American populations. Investigating these factors is important for the eventual development of interventions that are appropriate for African American emerging adults. This dissertation addressed this need by studying two promotive processes expected to be associated with changes in anxiety during emerging adulthood: family cohesion and self-regulation. Informed by family development theory, I tested hypotheses regarding the effects of family cohesion during late adolescence on increases in self-regulation, which are expected, in turn, to decrease anxiety symptoms. In addition, I investigated if youth sex moderates the association of family cohesion on self-regulation. Hypotheses were tested with three waves of data (ages 17, 19, 21) from African Americans participating in the Maryland Adolescent Development in Context Study. Direct and indirect effects models were tested using structural equation modeling. Three key findings emerged. First, family cohesion in late adolescence was significantly related to decreased anxiety problems in emerging adulthood. Second, self-regulation in emerging adulthood was significantly associated with decreased anxiety problems in emerging adulthood. Third, family cohesion in late adolescence indirectly effected anxiety problems in emerging adulthood through self-regulation. These findings suggest that families may be an important promotive process for anxiety problems during emerging adulthood. Prevention programs that target family processes may be able to reduce anxiety problems in emerging adult African Americans.
