Intergenerational Transmission of Anxiety (1 CE)

This course is for: Clinical Psychologists, Counselors, and Marriage & Family Therapists 

Course By: Ken Springer, Ph.D. and Kristin Ceppaluni, LMHC 

Content By: de Vente, W., Majdandžíc, M., & Bögels, S. M. (2020). Intergenerational transmission of anxiety: Linking parental anxiety to infant autonomic hyperarousal and fearful temperament. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 61(11), 1203-1212. 

https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13208 

Course Description: Some research has shown that autonomic hyperarousal creates a genetically-based predisposition for developing anxiety disorders (ADs), but few studies have focused on young children prior to the emergence of ADs or have examined intergenerational sources of early autonomic hyperarousal. The present study examined whether autonomic hyperarousal during infancy was linked to parental anxiety and to later temperamental fearfulness. Autonomic hyperarousal was measured at 4 months through ECG data recorded during novel stimuli and habituation tasks, while fearful temperament was measured at 4 months, 1 year, and 2.5 years in response to numerous tasks. The researchers found that parents' fearful temperament, AD status, and AD severity each predicted higher infant heart rates during the laboratory tasks. Infant heart rate, in turn, predicted fearful temperament at 2.5 years. These and other findings suggest that autonomic hyperarousal is a dispositional risk factor for ADs. This possibility has clinical implications for early detection of children at risk for developing ADs, and for the use of prevention strategies intended to reduce autonomic hyperarousal. 

Learning Objectives:  

1. Understand the rationale for the study as well as the methods used to measure key variables 
2. Describe the associations found among parent anxiety, infant autonomic activity, and child fearful temperament  
3. Integrate the strengths and limitations of the study, and summarize the clinical implications for AD-related prevention and intervention  

Course Outline:  

• Read and understand Intergenerational transmission of anxiety: Linking parental anxiety to infant autonomic hyperarousal and fearful temperament 
• Review the Course Description and Learning Objectives 
• Understand the rationale for examining whether autonomic hyperarousal is a dispositional risk factor for the development of ADs 
• Understand the methods used to measure two parent variables (fearful temperament and anxiety) and two child variables (infant autonomic hyperarousal and child fearful temperament) 
• Analyze the evidence that three parent anxiety variables (fearful temperament, AD status, and AD severity) were predictive of infant autonomic hyperarousal 

• Analyze the evidence that infant autonomic hyperarousal predicted child fearful temperament 
• Integrate the study's key findings, strengths, limitations, and clinical implications 
• Work through the post-test questions, using the article as the sole basis for your answers 
• Revisit the article for any missed questions and/or to better understand the evidence that autonomic hyperarousal is a dispositional risk factor for the development of ADs 

Approvals: