Verbal transmission of social fear beliefs from parents to children: a moderation by parental social anxiety?

Social anxiety runs in families. A pathway that plays a significant role in the transmission of social anxiety from parent-to-child, is the verbal information pathway. Studies that investigated this pathway mainly focused on the fear of novel animals instead of social fears. The current study investigated how parental verbal threat versus safety information affects the fear beliefs of children about strangers in social situations. Additionally, in the light of earlier research suggesting an influence of parental social anxiety on the effect of verbal information, parental social anxiety has been explored as a moderator. Primary caregivers provided their child (N = 69, M = 11.67 years, 59.4% girls) with either verbal threat or safety information regarding two strangers. After receiving the verbal information, the child had to perform three social tasks, twice, in front of each stranger. After the social tasks, the child had to report his level of fear (fear beliefs) regarding the...Show moreSocial anxiety runs in families. A pathway that plays a significant role in the transmission of social anxiety from parent-to-child, is the verbal information pathway. Studies that investigated this pathway mainly focused on the fear of novel animals instead of social fears. The current study investigated how parental verbal threat versus safety information affects the fear beliefs of children about strangers in social situations. Additionally, in the light of earlier research suggesting an influence of parental social anxiety on the effect of verbal information, parental social anxiety has been explored as a moderator. Primary caregivers provided their child (N = 69, M = 11.67 years, 59.4% girls) with either verbal threat or safety information regarding two strangers. After receiving the verbal information, the child had to perform three social tasks, twice, in front of each stranger. After the social tasks, the child had to report his level of fear (fear beliefs) regarding the strangers. Parents reported their own levels of social anxiety through a questionnaire. The findings showed that children reported more fear for the stranger paired with parental verbal threat information compared to the stranger paired with parental verbal safety information. However, no moderation of parental social anxiety on the effect of verbal information was found. Conclusively, the study reveals a causal effect of parental verbal threat on children’s fear beliefs. Possible explanations for the lack of a moderating effect of parental social anxiety and the need for future research are discussed.Show less

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Verbal transmission of social fear beliefs from parents to children: a moderation by parental social anxiety?