Research indicates that the quality of the home environment has a large influence on the variance of externalising problem behaviour in children and adolescents. Based on past research, it seems...Show moreResearch indicates that the quality of the home environment has a large influence on the variance of externalising problem behaviour in children and adolescents. Based on past research, it seems that many environmental factors that affect externalising problem behaviour are mediated through the parent-child bond. In addition, research shows that improving the parent-child bond reduces externalising problem behaviour. This research endeavoured to determine whether the correlation between parent-child conflict and externalising problem behaviour holds true in our healthy sample. Secondly, whether the parent-child bond can serve as a vector of intervention in adolescents with high levels of externalising problem behaviour. Data of 80 participants of the RE-PAIR project was used in a linear regression analysis with parent-child conflict as the independent variable and externalising problem behaviour as the dependent variable, a significant correlation with a medium effect size was found. A multiple regression analysis with parent-child conflict and parent-child bond as independent variables and externalising problem behaviour as the dependent variable resulted in a non-significant interaction effect of parent-child bond on the relation between parent-child conflict and externalising problem behaviour. The non-significant result might be a result of the narrow range of scores on parent-child conflict and parent-child bond in the healthy sample. Future research could exclusively include adolescents already showing high externalising problem behaviour to identify the effect of the parent-child bond in the target group for interventions.Show less
Given the widespread occurrence and negative consequences of anxiety disorders in children, it is crucial to investigate the factors preceding their development. While environmental factors and...Show moreGiven the widespread occurrence and negative consequences of anxiety disorders in children, it is crucial to investigate the factors preceding their development. While environmental factors and genetics are recognised as contributors to children’s anxiety symptoms, parents’ internal processes such as emotion regulation strategies have not often been considered. This study is the first that aims to investigate the relationship between parental suppression and children’s anxiety symptoms. Further, it proposes that this relationship may be influenced by children’s age, implying this relationship being stronger for younger children. The study was a cross-sectional online survey which collected data from parent-child dyads (N = 189) over a period of one year. Parents completed the subscale of the Affective Styles Questionnaire to conduct parental suppression levels and children filled in the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders questionnaire to measure children’s anxiety symptoms. Against our expectations, parental suppression was not related to children’s anxiety symptoms and children’s age did not impact this relationship. A possible reason for this may be the lack of differentiation of suppressed parental emotions in this study. Nevertheless, our study contributes to the literature by investigating a unique research question utilising a large sample size while being cost-effective. Future research should focus on the effect that parental suppression of specific emotions such as anger or sadness has on children’s anxiety symptoms. Implications regarding the development of interventions targeting maladaptive parental emotion regulation strategies are discussed.Show less
Scientific background. In 2019, the first cases of the coronavirus (Covid-19) were reported. As a consequence of the new reality, the virus induced a plethora of fears. Fear is an adaptive response...Show moreScientific background. In 2019, the first cases of the coronavirus (Covid-19) were reported. As a consequence of the new reality, the virus induced a plethora of fears. Fear is an adaptive response in the presence of danger, however, if presented in a continuous and uncertain fashion, it may become chronic and maladaptive. Parents can influence children’s emotional responses via direct and subtle, verbal and non – verbal behaviours. Particularly, parental suppression of emotion can dampen the development of effective coping responses in children. Hypotheses. We expected parental fear to be positively correlated with child fear, and parental suppression of emotion to increase the strength of the relationship between parental Covid-19 fears and child Covid-19 fears. Methods. This study is a cross-sectional design set out to measure fears of Covid-19 and parental suppression of emotion. Parents (N = 219; 24.2% male) and their 8- to 18-year-old children (N = 195; 42.1% male) were recruited. Statistical analyses. A multiple regression analysis was used to explore the relationship between parental Covid-19 fears and child covid-19 fears, and the moderating effect of parental suppression of emotion. Results. Parental Covid-19 fears is significantly associated with child Covid-19 fears, however parental suppression of emotion has no significant effect on the strength of this relationship. Conclusion. Parents’ abilities to efficiently manage their fears are especially crucial during crisis periods such as the Covid-19 pandemic, as this can have a correlating effect on their children’s Covid-19 fears.Show less
Background: Anxiety disorders run in families. Therefore it is important to have a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms contributing to this familial aggregation of fear. More anxious...Show moreBackground: Anxiety disorders run in families. Therefore it is important to have a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms contributing to this familial aggregation of fear. More anxious individuals show more attentional bias and for infants this attentional bias might be a risk factor for anxiety later in life. Therefore this study aimed to investigate whether parental anxiety mediates the association of parental attentional bias and infant attentional bias towards threatening faces. Methods: A cross-sectional research with 220 families invited by the municipality was done. Both parents of the infants filled in the Depression, Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS). One of the parents and the infant did an eye-tracking experiment in which they looked at dynamic faces with different emotional expressions. The statistical analysis was done with 187 infants between 5 and 19 months old and their parents. Results: After performing a mediation analysis with PROCESS, against expectations parental attentional bias was not positively related to infant attentional bias towards threatening faces. Also, parental attentional bias was not positively related to parental anxiety. Similarly, parental anxiety was not positively related to infant attentional bias. Discussion: Attentional bias might indicate a greater risk for anxiety in children later in life. Due to mixed findings, future studies should focus on other developmental pathways underlying an attentional bias in infants and its consequences. Also, other possible elements which might underlie an association of attentional bias between parents and infants should be investigated further.Show less
Background: The present study focuses on the worldwide pandemic of the Covid-19 virus, investigating fear acquisition through Rachman’s third pathway. He suggests that fear can be induced via...Show moreBackground: The present study focuses on the worldwide pandemic of the Covid-19 virus, investigating fear acquisition through Rachman’s third pathway. He suggests that fear can be induced via verbal information transmission. Especially during childhood and adolescence, information about novel stimuli is given by parents. In addition, the present paper investigates the impact on a child characteristic temperament (behavioural inhibition) and how this interacts with parental verbal threat information and their respective fear of the virus. Methods: A healthy sample of 88 children and their respective parents filled in online questionnaires individually concerning their fear of the Covid-19 virus and the source of information they retrieve about the virus. Secondly, children filled out a questionnaire on behavioural inhibition to measure temperamental tendencies. Results: Results supported the view that higher fear towards the virus of the parent can elevate fear of the child. It seems that parental fear of the virus might result in more communication of their fear, mediating the raised fear levels of the child regarding the Covid 19 virus. Lastly, behavioural inhibition did not impact the attention towards threat information provided by the parent and hence, was not associated with promoting the acquisition of fear. Discussion: Parent-child conversation poses an important learning context to the child, trying to understand the virus experienced and is hence, fundamental for developing fears of viruses. As those children who showed behavioural inhibition were not more sensitive to the threat information provided, future research should test the existence of this relationshipShow less
Background: Verbal threat transmission is significant part of the etiology of fear as Rachman (1977, 1991) suggested in his three pathway theory. To test his theory, as Remmerswaal & Muris ...Show moreBackground: Verbal threat transmission is significant part of the etiology of fear as Rachman (1977, 1991) suggested in his three pathway theory. To test his theory, as Remmerswaal & Muris (2011) did, our research investigated the contribution of verbal threat information which is provided by parents to the development of children’s fear in the context of Covid-19. In order to do that, we tried to observe the relationships among the parental verbal threat information, parents’ and children’s fear of Covid-19, also, we tested whether parents’ and children’s fear of the Covid-19 were mediated by parental verbal threat transmission related to the Covid-19. Furthermore, this paper tried to depict if the different information sources in addition to the parental verbal threat information, parents’ fear of the Covid-19, children’s general fear of medical affairs, parents’ general fear of medical affairs, direct experience of children and direct experience of parents significantly contributed children’s fear of the Covid-19. Methods: Children aged between 8-18 years old (N=90) and one of their parents (N=90) completed Fear of Covid-19 Questionnaire (FCV-19), the Sources of Information about the Covid-19 Scale (SIQ) and Fear Survey Schedule for Children’s Revised version (FSSC-R; Ollendick, 1983) online. To test the mediation, we conducted multiple regression analysis using Baron and Kenny’s (1986) statistical method and to see different information sources’ contribution on children’s fear of the Covid-19, we conducted hierarchical regression. Results: We concluded that parental verbal threat information partially mediated the relationship between children’s and parents’ fear of the Covid-19 and different information sources significantly contributed to the children’s fear of the Covid-19 in addition to other predictors. Discussion: Our results provided support for Rachman’s (1977, 1991) theory which argued the existence of the verbal threat transmission. Another important area was, different information sources might contribute into fear acquisition of children. It leads other future studies that can investigate which information sources are more effective in the children’s fear acquisition.Show less
This study investigated whether parents’ fear of the COVID-19 is associated with children’s fear of the COVID-19. Further, the study examined whether the association is mediated by parents’ verbal...Show moreThis study investigated whether parents’ fear of the COVID-19 is associated with children’s fear of the COVID-19. Further, the study examined whether the association is mediated by parents’ verbal threat information. In addition, it was studied which sources of information about the COVID-19 contribute to children’s fear of the COVID-19. In this online study participated 90 parent-child dyads (child mean age M = 13.22, parent mean age M = 46.49). The present study has a cross-sectional correlational design. The participants completed online self-reported questionnaires. The results of the study showed that parents’ fear of the COVID-19 is positively linked to children’s fear of the COVID-19. Parents’ fear of the COVID-19 is positively associated with parents’ verbal threat information. Also, parents’ verbal threat information is positively related to children’s fear of the COVID-19. The link between parents’ and children’s fear of the COVID-19 is partially mediated by parents’ verbal threat information. Further, the results showed that various sources of information accounted for 39% of the variance in the children’s fear of the COVID-19. Parents, television and friends are important contributing sources of information to the children’s fear of the COVID-19. The results support Rachman’s information pathway in explaining fear transmission from parents their offspring in the context of the COVID-19. The results are also in line with the previous research about parents’ threat information mediation between parents’ and children’s fear of the swine flu.Show less
Background: Anxiety disorders run in families. Therefore it is important to have a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms contributing to this familial aggregation of fear. More anxious...Show moreBackground: Anxiety disorders run in families. Therefore it is important to have a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms contributing to this familial aggregation of fear. More anxious individuals show more attentional bias and for infants this attentional bias might be a risk factor for anxiety later in life. Therefore this study aimed to investigate whether parental anxiety mediates the association of parental attentional bias and infant attentional bias towards threatening faces. Methods: A cross-sectional research with 220 families invited by the municipality was done. Both parents of the infants filled in the Depression, Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS). One of the parents and the infant did an eye-tracking experiment in which they looked at dynamic faces with different emotional expressions. The statistical analysis was done with 187 infants between 5 and 19 months old and their parents. Results: After performing a mediation analysis with PROCESS, against expectations parental attentional bias was not positively related to infant attentional bias towards threatening faces. Also, parental attentional bias was not positively related to parental anxiety. Similarly, parental anxiety was not positively related to infant attentional bias. Discussion: Attentional bias might indicate a greater risk for anxiety in children later in life. Due to mixed findings, future studies should focus on other developmental pathways underlying an attentional bias in infants and its consequences. Also, other possible elements which might underlie an association of attentional bias between parents and infants should be investigated further.Show less
Suicide remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide, however, our knowledge on the short-term predictors and short-term fluctuations in suicide ideation and behaviour is limited and has...Show moreSuicide remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide, however, our knowledge on the short-term predictors and short-term fluctuations in suicide ideation and behaviour is limited and has only recently began to be studied. The main objective of this case study was to investigate the associations between suicide ideation and its proximal risk factors and to extend the evidence on the short-term variability of suicide ideation as well as its risk factors. Data was collected using Ecological Momentary Assessment four times a day over 21 days, providing repeated measures of suicide ideation, affective states of sadness, anger, guilt, and shame, cognitions of hopelessness, burdensomeness, and loneliness, social interactions, and stressful events. Actigraphy was used to obtain objective data on sleep parameters. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to investigate the associations with the predictors and concurrent suicide ideation, and variability was assessed using the Root Mean Squared Successive Differences. Our findings suggest that sadness and anger are associated with concurrent suicide ideation. Of note, however, is this relationship between anger and concurrent suicide ideation where increased anger was associated with decreased suicide ideation in our subject. Furthermore, the current study provides additional evidence on the short-term variability in suicide ideation and its proximal risk factors of affective states, cognitions, and sleep. Our findings highlight the need for repeated assessments in clinical and research settings that not only consider severity but also variability of suicide ideation and its risk factors. The current study warrants further replications in large scale samples.Show less
Parental stress can have a negative impact on attentional bias in infants, which is an emotion processing construct. The present study investigated if parental stress is positively related to...Show moreParental stress can have a negative impact on attentional bias in infants, which is an emotion processing construct. The present study investigated if parental stress is positively related to attentional bias towards fearful over happy faces in infants aged 5 to 19 months. The sample consisted out of 220 infants (male: 48,2%, female: 51,2%) and their 229 primary caregivers (male: 32,3%, female: 67,7%). The research has a cross-sectional experimental design. Attentional bias was measured with an eye-tracker, which measured dwell times in infants when looking at happy and fearful faces. Parental stress was measured with the stress-scale of the DASS. The analyses suggested that parental stress was not positively related to attentional bias of their infants, whereas other studies found that parental stress was positively related to attentional bias. These differences in findings may be due to the fact that SES-variables were not taken into account in the present study. Besides, attentional bias differs across age groups, but also age was not taken into account. Therefore, attentional bias is a dynamic construct, which needs to be further examined with respect to variables that influence the link between parental stress and attentional bias.Show less
Little is known regarding the specific mechanismsthat underlie the parent-to-child transmission of anxiety. A possible mechanism is the shared attention biases to threat. Also, there is little...Show moreLittle is known regarding the specific mechanismsthat underlie the parent-to-child transmission of anxiety. A possible mechanism is the shared attention biases to threat. Also, there is little evidence regarding individual differences, such as negative temperament, in the earliest development of attention bias to threat. Fearful/ negative temperament can act as a risk factor for developing anxiety disorders later in life. This study investigated the relationship between parents’ and infants’ attention bias, and if negative child temperament strengthened this relationship. Attention bias was measured to fearful faces in infants (N = 220) ages 5 to 19 months and parents (N = 229) during an eye-tracking task. Infants’ negative temperament was measured with a questionnaire. Results show that infants looked longer towards fearful faces than happy faces. Parents did not pay this attention bias towards fearful faces. We found no relation between parents’ attention bias towards fearful faces and infants’ attention bias towards fearful faces. We did find an interaction between the attention biases and negative child temperament. In other words, the higher the infants’ negative temperament, the stronger the relationship between parents’ attention bias towards threatening faces and infants’ attention bias towards threatening faces. These findings support the idea that negative temperament is related to attention bias and that it could be a risk factor for future anxiety development.Show less
Although there are indications that parental anxiety is related to the development of anxiety among children, direct evidence for the specific mechanisms that underlie the parent-child transmission...Show moreAlthough there are indications that parental anxiety is related to the development of anxiety among children, direct evidence for the specific mechanisms that underlie the parent-child transmission of anxiety is limited. The interaction between anxious parents and their infant is a potentially important mechanism for the transmission of fear from the parent to the infant. This study aims to investigate the relationship between parental anxiety (mothers and fathers) and infants’ attention bias towards fearful faces (vs. happy faces). Both mothers (N = 155) and fathers (N = 74) were included in the study and parental anxiety was measured with the DASS questionnaire. Attention bias towards fearful faces (vs. happy faces) was measured with an eye-tracker in infants between 5 and 19 months old (N = 220; 112 girls, 108 boys). Results show that infants looked longer at fearful faces than at happy faces. However, no relation between parental anxiety and infants’ attention bias towards fearful faces was found. Moreover, the gender of the parent did not influence the relationship between parental anxiety and an infant’s attention bias. The findings do not support the notion that attention bias in infants is a mechanism that could explain the transmission of anxiety from parents to their children. Our study contributes to the literature about the transmission of anxiety from parents to their children and the role of infants’ attention bias in this transmission.Show less
