Social fears are common in teenagers. Most are transient in nature, but some remain and convey a risk for the development of social anxiety disorder (SAD). A potential underlying mechanism is the...Show moreSocial fears are common in teenagers. Most are transient in nature, but some remain and convey a risk for the development of social anxiety disorder (SAD). A potential underlying mechanism is the parent-to-child transmission of social fears through social learning via the verbal information pathway. Previous research also suggests a role for behavioral inhibition (BI) in acquiring social fears. The current study investigated the effect of parental verbal threat vs. safety information on children’s social fear beliefs towards strangers and whether this effect is moderated by BI and gender. In this experimental study, a non-clinical sample of 64 children aged 9.5-14 years (M = 11.64, SD = 1.15; 35 girls) participated in a social performance task with a stranger about whom their parents communicated threatening or safety information. Children filled in self-reports regarding social fear beliefs about two strangers and BI. The results revealed stronger fear beliefs towards strangers about whom parents communicated threatening information. BI or gender did not moderate this effect. The current study provides additional support for the assumed importance of parental behavior in acquiring social fears through social learning, and in particular with regard to the pathway of verbal information transmission. To interpret the effect as a result of verbal threat information, future research might consider a baseline measure of social fear beliefs to compare changes in social fear beliefs as a result of parental verbal information. This study contributed to a better understanding of underlying mechanisms that place children at risk of developing social fears.Show less
Theories on parent-to-child transmission of social fears highlight the role of verbal information. Specifically, children displaying behavioral inhibition (BI) appear to be particularly responsive...Show moreTheories on parent-to-child transmission of social fears highlight the role of verbal information. Specifically, children displaying behavioral inhibition (BI) appear to be particularly responsive to verbally expressed fear by parents. This study tested the effect of parental expressions of verbal threat (versus safety) on the children’s physiological fear responses to a social stressor, while exploring the moderation effect of BI. Primary caregivers provided standardized verbal threat or safety information to their child (N = 65) regarding two strangers in the lab. Following this manipulation, children performed three social tasks in front of each stranger while their heart rate was measured. Parents reported on their child’s BI. Findings revealed no significant difference in the children's physiological responses to the stranger paired with the threat versus safety information. Moreover, the level of BI in children did not significantly influence the impact of verbal information on heart rate. The findings suggest that exposure to threat information does not per se elicit higher heart rates in children, and question the idea that higher levels of BI necessarily exacerbate the effect of parental verbal threat on physiological fear. The results are interpreted in light of the study’s limitations and emphasize valuable directions for future research on the development of social fears, particularly those fears manifesting in physiological markers.Show less
Social anxiety disorder runs in families. Next to genetically inherited dispositions, there are two main environmental pathways of parent-to-child transmission of anxiety: the verbal transmission...Show moreSocial anxiety disorder runs in families. Next to genetically inherited dispositions, there are two main environmental pathways of parent-to-child transmission of anxiety: the verbal transmission of information and the indirect modelling of information. In this study the parental verbal threat vs safety expressions about strangers on children’s reported fear and the possible moderating role of child’s temperament in a community sample of 10-to-13-year-old children (N = 75) is investigated. In the experiment, primary caregivers gave standardized verbal threat vs safety information about two strangers to their child. Then children separately interacted with the two strangers in a series of social tasks where they gave a social speech, watched back their social performance, and interacted with the strangers about their performance. After that, each participating child was asked to report their fear beliefs about each stranger. Child temperament was measured using the Early Adolescence Temperament Questionnaire (EATQ), filled in by both parents. Results showed that the effect of parental verbal communication on the fear beliefs of the child was significant: children reported more fear beliefs to the stranger paired with parental threat (versus safety) information. The effect was, however, not qualified by a higher order interaction between condition and child’s temperament, suggesting that the impact of parental verbal information does not differ as a function of temperament. The findings reveal that a brief exposure to parental verbal threat induces fear beliefs in children, irrespective to the temperament scores.Show less
While fear of social situations is common, excessive social fears, as observed in social anxiety disorder (SAD), can have debilitating consequences on one’s life. Social fears increase from early...Show moreWhile fear of social situations is common, excessive social fears, as observed in social anxiety disorder (SAD), can have debilitating consequences on one’s life. Social fears increase from early to mid-adolescence, heightening vulnerability to developing SAD. Parents’ threatening verbal comments in a social context could influence children’s fear response, including attention, and lead to social fear acquisition. Additionally, children with higher behavioral inhibition (BI), who are more cautious and withdrawn in novel situations, can be more open to the effects of parental remarks than children with lower BI. Therefore, the current thesis aimed to investigate the effect of parental verbal threat versus safety about strangers on children’s attention to strangers, while looking at BI as a moderator. The children (age M = 11.62, SD = 1.18, range: 9.5-14) gave a presentation for two strangers after receiving either threatening or safe verbal descriptions of these strangers from their parents. Results showed that the child’s attention (i.e., looking duration) toward the stranger did not significantly differ between the threat and safe conditions. Furthermore, there was no significant moderation by BI. Thus, child attention was not influenced by parental verbal information irrespective of individual differences in child BI. Future studies could investigate children’s development of SAD further by focusing on the role of parental SAD, as well as the effects of repetitive exposure to parental verbal threat, other variables related to attention, and the developmental trajectories regarding BI.Show less
This study investigated the transmission of social anxiety from parent to child via verbal information about strangers. Based on previous research findings demonstrating verbal fear learning from...Show moreThis study investigated the transmission of social anxiety from parent to child via verbal information about strangers. Based on previous research findings demonstrating verbal fear learning from parent to child, which often resulted in avoidance behavior in the children, this study tested verbal fear learning in a social performance task with a stranger. Further, it was investigated whether parental social anxiety would moderate child´s avoidance towards the stranger. The current study included a community sample of 71 adolescents aged eleven- to fourteen. The children were accompanied by their primary caregiver to the lab, where the caregiver gave the manipulation by providing either safety or threat messages about two strangers. Multiple questionnaires were filled in by the parents and child, along with several measurements taken during the study, of which this thesis focused on the child´s avoidance behavior during the social performance task. Results indicate no significant differences in avoidance behavior between the safety or threat messages and no moderation effect of parental SAD. It was demonstrated that children of socially anxious parents were overall significantly more avoidant towards the strangers. Even though no support for a parent-to-child transmission of stranger anxiety in this sample was found, the findings contribute to the growing evidence that parental SAD does translate into behavioral avoidance in their children. Future research should try to find reliable measures of avoidance behavior, research a clinical sample and investigate this intergenerational transmission in a longitudinal or observational design.Show less
Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
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This study investigated the impact of parental verbal threat (vs. safety) information regarding a stranger on a child’s subjective and behavioral fear responses towards that stranger. As a...Show moreThis study investigated the impact of parental verbal threat (vs. safety) information regarding a stranger on a child’s subjective and behavioral fear responses towards that stranger. As a manipulation, parents were instructed to provide their children (N=79), aged 10-14 years, with standardized verbal threat or safety information about two strangers in the lab. Then, children engaged in a social interaction task with the two strangers (blind to their condition) separately, while child behavioral avoidance was recorded. Following the task, children reported fear beliefs for each stranger. Also, parents completed a self-report questionnaire on social anxiety symptoms. Children reported more fear beliefs for the stranger paired with the threat information, but no significant difference was found in observed avoidance. In addition, verbal threat information did not have a stronger influence on children’s observed avoidance in case of higher reported fear beliefs. Similarly, high parental social anxiety symptoms did not moderate the impact of verbal threat information on the child’s cognitive or behavioural fear indices. However, they did have a significant influence on behavioural avoidance, regardless of verbal information. Overall, this study shows a causal effect of verbal threat messages provided by parents only on child subjective fear and highlightsthe need for further research on the verbal transmission of childhood social fears in the context of family, by examining these processes in various social situations, age groups, and fear indices.Show less
Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is one of the most common types of psychopathology. Parent-child interactions play a prominent role in the development of SAD. Verbal information from parent to child...Show moreSocial anxiety disorder (SAD) is one of the most common types of psychopathology. Parent-child interactions play a prominent role in the development of SAD. Verbal information from parent to child has been shown to be a potential mechanism for the transfer of fear. The current study aimed to investigate this transfer from parent to child by exploring the effect of parental verbal communication of threat and safety information on children’s attentional bias. Additionally, it was investigated whether the overall anxiety levels of parents would moderate this effect. The sample included 68 children aged 10 to 14 (38 girls and 29 boys, Mage = 11.23, SD = 1.17, range 9.57 - 14.28) and their parents (68 mothers and 55 fathers). The attentional bias was operationalized by using recorded videos of the social tasks performed by the children to calculate the total duration and frequency of the child's gaze at a safety-paired stranger and a threat-paired stranger. The results revealed no significant effect of parental verbal communication of threat versus safety on children’s attentional bias. Moreover, parental anxiety scores did not moderate this effect. The findings suggest that threat and safety information received verbally from parents does not influence the child's fear response. Our findings are not in line with previous studies, highlighting the importance of future research that will further clarify the mechanisms playing a role in the verbal transmission of threat and anxiety from parent to child.Show less
Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
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Observing emotions in others’ facial expressions is an important factor guiding social interaction. Observing others’ emotions elicits physiological arousal in the observer, which is reflected in...Show moreObserving emotions in others’ facial expressions is an important factor guiding social interaction. Observing others’ emotions elicits physiological arousal in the observer, which is reflected in increased pupil diameter (i.e., pupil dilation). The current study used pupil dilation as an index of physiological arousal to explore children’s responses to emotional facial expressions. More specifically, we investigated whether maternal symptoms of depression and/or anxiety were related to offspring’s pupil responses to negative (versus positive) facial displays irrespective of the child’s symptomology. A community sample of 87 mother- (M = 42.30, SD = 5.60, range = 27-57) child (M = 10.11, SD = 1.32, range = 7.2-12.9) dyads participated in the current study. Mothers and offspring reported on their depressive and anxiety symptoms via self-report questionnaires. Children’s pupil responses to angry, fearful, sad, and happy dynamic facial displays were measured during the dynamic emotions task using eye-tracking. Results revealed that maternal depressive symptoms were not related to child pupil responses to negative (versus positive) faces. Higher levels of maternal anxiety, however, were linked to stronger child pupil responses to fearful and sad faces than to happy faces. In turn, child pupil responses to angry (versus happy) faces did not statistically differ as a function of maternal anxiety. These findings persisted after accounting for the link between child anxiety symptoms and child pupil responses. Therefore, the way typically developing children react to negative versus positive emotional faces in later childhood appears to be related to maternal levels of anxiety, but not to maternal levels of depression. This points to the importance of exploring maternal anxiety symptoms as a potential risk factor for the development of negativity biases in offspring across the general population.Show less
To look at how a parent’s verbal communication can influence a child’s development of fear beliefs, a study called STARs Leiden was conducted using different social interaction tasks. During this...Show moreTo look at how a parent’s verbal communication can influence a child’s development of fear beliefs, a study called STARs Leiden was conducted using different social interaction tasks. During this research 72 participants between the ages 10 and 14 years were examined to see how parental verbal transmission of threat vs safety about strangers influenced fear beliefs. This was examined by offering the children the following three tasks: a speech about shyness and confidence, that was being recorded, watching the recording of their speech with a stranger and lastly a speech about their overall performance. Before any engagement took place the parent of each child pointed to an image of two strangers and declared that one is “nice”, and one is “tough”. After this the child had to fill in a questionnaire about fear beliefs about both judges. The child also had to fill in the child anxiety SCARED questionnaire before completing any of the tasks. An ANOVA was used to see if parental expression of threat vs safety had an influence on a child’s reported fear beliefs, these results were significant. Secondly, an ANOVA was also used to see if a child that scored high on social anxiety (when looking at the results on the child anxiety SCARED) also had more fear beliefs, however, these results did not yield a significant effect.Show less
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...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
Verbal parental transmission of threat information about strangers may influence fear beliefs and avoidance responses in children. Earlier studies showed that sharing threat information with...Show moreVerbal parental transmission of threat information about strangers may influence fear beliefs and avoidance responses in children. Earlier studies showed that sharing threat information with children caused higher levels in fear beliefs and higher avoidance responses compared to when safe information was shared. There is proof that fearful temperament/behavioral inhibition (BI), moderate the relation between children receiving threat information and scoring higher on fear beliefs and avoidance responses. In this study, parents provided threat and safe information about two strangers to their children (N = 72, Mage = 11.67). Following the manipulation, children went through three social tasks twice with each of the strangers and reported fear beliefs in a questionnaire for each stranger. Avoidance behavior was observed in the social tasks. Fearful temperament was used as an individual difference predictor and was measured by the Early Adult Temperament Questionnaire. Verbal transmission of threat information was linked to higher fear belief scores compared to safe information. Verbal transmission of threat information was not linked to higher avoidance behavior responses. The fear beliefs outcomes and the behavioral responses were not affected by fearful temperament. This study only found proof that verbal parental transmission of threat information about strangers increased children’s’ fear beliefs and may increase the risks of developing SAD. This study has his strengths and limitations regarding the procedure and chosen measurements, but hopefully gives new inspiration to new or follow-up research about verbal parental transmission of threat information about strangers and the effects on children.Show less
Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
closed access
Negative Attention Bias (NAB) is suggested to have evolutionary functions; however, there is evidence that it also plays a role in the onset and maintenance of depression. Previous studies...Show moreNegative Attention Bias (NAB) is suggested to have evolutionary functions; however, there is evidence that it also plays a role in the onset and maintenance of depression. Previous studies investigating NAB and its links to depression were mainly conducted with clinical and at-risk adolescent and adult samples. Results of previous studies indicated depressed or at-risk individuals present NAB specifically towards depression-congruent stimuli (e.g., sad faces). This study is the first to investigate NAB and its links to depressive symptoms in non-clinical children. Moreover, the link between parental depressive symptoms and NAB in children was also investigated. In line with the previous studies, it was hypothesized children, like adults, will show NAB towards negative over positive emotional stimuli; children who have higher levels of depression will attend longer to sad faces in specific; children whose parents have higher levels of depression will attend longer to sad faces in specific. In a cross-sectional design, 90 8–12-year-old children and 84 parents (44 mothers) were tested. Children and parents’ dwell times to positive (happy) compared to negative (angry, fearful, sad) emotional expressions were measured using an eye-tracking task. Depressive symptoms were measured using the Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI) for children and the Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI) for parents. While only one parent contributed to the eye-tracking task, both parents were asked to fill out the BDI. Results indicated although parents compared to children attended longer to all emotional expressions, both children and their parents attended longer to negative compared to positive emotions. No link between child depressive symptoms or parental depressive symptoms with NAB specific to sad faces was found in children. We conclude that children, like adults, show a negativity bias in their attention to emotional expressions; however, suggested links between child and parent depressive symptoms with NAB may not hold in non-clinical child samples. This study adds to the growing research on emotion-processing and vulnerability to depression in children.Show less
The development of social anxiety, which is highly prevalent and persistent in adolescents, heavily depends on predisposing factors, such as behavioral inhibition, and environmental influences,...Show moreThe development of social anxiety, which is highly prevalent and persistent in adolescents, heavily depends on predisposing factors, such as behavioral inhibition, and environmental influences, such as parenting, particularly via verbal learning. This study investigated whether social fears can be verbally transmitted from parents to their adolescent children (N = 72, M = 11.67 years; 54.5% girls) by exploring whether standardized threat information about a stranger leads to higher fear beliefs in contrast to safety information about another stranger, and whether behavioral inhibition has a moderating role by exacerbating this verbal transmission of fear. The adolescents were provided with this information before performing a social interaction task with each of two strangers acting as judges, who were unaware whether they were paired with threat or safety information. Behavioral inhibition scores were assessed via parent and child reports prior to the verbal threat or safety information transfer, while fear beliefs were reported by the adolescents after the social task. In line with previous literature, adolescents reported higher fear beliefs for the strangers associated with threat information than for those associated with safety information. No significant moderation by behavioral inhibition was found, though parentally reported child behavioral inhibition positively predicted overall fear beliefs. Conclusively, social fears may be verbally transmitted from parents to adolescents via threat or safety information affecting fear beliefs. Limitations are discussed and further research to ascertain the full scope of this effect and implications is encouraged.Show less
