How parents' emotions and biological syncing shape anxiety in young children
Parent-to-child anxiety transmission in early childhood: Capturing in-the-moment mechanisms through emotion modeling and biological synchrony
This project follows parents and their young children to see how parents' moment-to-moment emotions and biological syncing relate to anxiety in children.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Pennsylvania State University, the NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (University Park, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11312694 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
You and your child would take part in repeated observations of everyday interactions while researchers record parents' emotional expressions and bodily signals like heart rate to capture how you and your child respond to one another in the moment. The team will look for patterns called emotion modeling (how children copy or internalize parents' reactions) and dyadic synchrony (how parents' and children's biological signals line up). Families will be followed over time to link these moment-to-moment patterns with emerging anxiety in children. The goal is to learn which specific interaction moments may help explain how anxiety passes from parent to child.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal participants are families with children in early childhood (infants through school-age, up to about 11 years), especially when a parent has anxiety or the child shows early anxiety-related signs.
Not a fit: Adults without young children or people whose anxiety is unrelated to parent–child interactions are unlikely to benefit directly from this work.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could point to practical ways parents can change everyday responses to lower the chance a child develops anxiety.
How similar studies have performed: Previous research has linked parenting behaviors to child anxiety, but applying moment-by-moment emotion modeling and physiological synchrony to explain transmission is a newer, less-tested approach.
Where this research is happening
University Park, United States
- Pennsylvania State University, the — University Park, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Perez-Edgar, Koraly E — Pennsylvania State University, the
- Study coordinator: Perez-Edgar, Koraly E
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.