Do maternal and paternal social trait anxiety explain individual differences in offspring stress reactions during a social performance task?

Abstract

Social anxiety runs in families. This multi-method study explored the links between maternal and paternal trait social anxiety and child stress reactions in a social performance task in a community sample of 4-to-6-year-old children (N = 68, M = 5.27 years) and their parents. Mothers and fathers reported their and their children's social anxiety via questionnaires. Child stress reactions were captured in a social performance task using behavioral (observed anxiety and avoidance), and physiological (heart rate [HR] and heart rate variability [HRV]) indices. Only the child's own, but not their mother's or father's, social anxiety predicted behavioral stress reactions: Children with higher levels of social trait anxiety were more anxious (but not more avoidant). The child's own, as well as their father's (but not the mother's) social anxiety, predicted the child's physiological stress reactions. Stronger anxiety in fathers predicted stronger HR responses, whereas child social anxiety was linked to reduced HR during social performance. In addition to a robust link of child trait social anxiety to child physiological stress reactions, the findings suggest interparental differences in the link between parental traits and offspring physiological stress reactions.