How parents' emotions shape young children's anxiety
Official title: Parent-to-child anxiety transmission in early childhood: Capturing in-the-moment mechanisms through emotion modeling and biological synchrony
Funded at Pennsylvania State University, the · NIH-11513889 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project explores how parents' moment-by-moment emotions and bodily signals shape anxiety in children from infancy through age 11.
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 start | July 1, 2022 |
| Project end | March 31, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $21,026 |
| NIH project number | 3R01MH130007-05S2 |
| Project ID | NIH-11513889 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are parents with children from birth up to about 11 years old, especially families where a parent has anxiety or the child shows early signs of worry.
✕Less likely to help
People without young children, teenagers or adults older than 11, and families unable to take part in repeated visits or home monitoring are unlikely to directly benefit.
What this research studies
If you join, you and your child will take part in regular visits and short daily recordings where researchers observe and measure your interactions and emotional reactions. They'll use simple sensors and video to capture heart rate and other body signals alongside moments of parent-child emotion and coping. The study focuses on tiny, in-the-moment exchanges to see how a parent's fear or calm is mirrored by the child over time. Results will be used to identify specific interaction patterns that could be targeted to prevent or reduce anxiety in young children.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could point to specific parenting moments to target with interventions that reduce the risk of childhood anxiety.
How similar studies have gone: Many studies have linked parenting behaviors to child anxiety, but capturing moment-to-moment emotion modeling and biological synchrony is a relatively new approach that has shown promise but is not yet established.
Where this research is happening
-
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
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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.