Social anxiety disorder has an early onset (median age at thirteen years) and runs in families. An important pathway for acquiring fear is via verbal expression. Therefore, the aim of this study...Show moreSocial anxiety disorder has an early onset (median age at thirteen years) and runs in families. An important pathway for acquiring fear is via verbal expression. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of parental verbal information of threat/anxiety on the fear beliefs of their children and tried to determine whether the parental social anxiety levels moderated the effect of the parental verbal expression on the fear beliefs of children. A community sample of children (N = 68) between 11 and 13 years visited the lab with one of their parents. The parents were instructed to verbally give threat/anxiety information about one stranger (judge) and safety information about the other stranger to their children. After the manipulation, the children were asked to do a social performance for each stranger which was a presentation about confidence and shyness. After the performance the children were asked about their fear beliefs. A significant effect was found of the parental verbal expressions of threat/anxiety (vs. safety) on the fear beliefs of the children. The fear beliefs of children were higher about the stranger when threat/anxiety information was given than when safety information was given. This effect was independent from the parental social anxiety levels. This study provides insight to the effect of parental verbal information on the fear beliefs of their children. It can be implicated that parents have an important role in verbally conveying fear to children.Show less