Anxious parents show higher physiological synchrony with their infants

Background Interpersonal processes influence our physiological states and associated affect. Physiological arousal dysregulation, a core feature of anxiety disorders, has been identified in children of parents with elevated anxiety. However, little is understood about how parent–infant interpersonal regulatory processes differ when the dyad includes a more anxious parent. Methods We investigated moment-to-moment fluctuations in arousal within parent-infant dyads using miniaturised microphones and autonomic monitors. We continually recorded arousal and vocalisations in infants and parents in naturalistic home settings across day-long data segments. Results Our results indicated that physiological synchrony across the day was stronger in dyads including more rather than less anxious mothers. Across the whole recording epoch, less anxious mothers showed responsivity that was limited to ‘peak’ moments in their child's arousal. In contrast, more anxious mothers showed greater reactivity to small-scale fluctuations. Less anxious mothers also showed behaviours akin to ‘stress buffering’ – downregulating their arousal when the overall arousal level of the dyad was high. These behaviours were absent in more anxious mothers. Conclusion Our findings have implications for understanding the differential processes of physiological co-regulation in partnerships where a partner is anxious, and for the use of this understanding in informing intervention strategies for dyads needing support for elevated levels of anxiety.

Secrets, Stealth, and Survival

This article combines critical theory from children’s literature studies with research methods from games studies to explore the connection between silence and childhood in two digital texts. Little Nightmares (2017) and INSIDE (2016) are wordless video games that feature nameless, faceless children as their avatars. Weak and weaponless, the children must avoid detection and stay silent if they are to survive. By slinking and skulking, crouching and cowering, the children navigate their way through vast, brutal adult environments in order to reach safety – or so the player thinks. Both games, in fact, end in shocking, unexpected ways, prompting the disturbing realisation that silent children have secrets of their own. The games use scale, perspective, and sound to encourage close identification between the player and avatar, and position the silent, blank-faced child as a cipher onto which the player can project their own feelings of fear, dread, and vulnerability. The child-character’s quiet compliance with the player’s commands also situates the player as an anxious parent, orbiting, assisting, and protecting a dependent child as it moves through a dangerous world. For both subject positions, the child-character’s silence closes the distance between the player and avatar. However, when it is revealed that the child-characters have hidden, unknowable, and potentially sinister motivations, the meaning of their silence is wholly transformed. Using aetonormative theory (Nikolajeva; Beauvais; Gubar) in conjunction with studies of ideologies surrounding childhood (Jenks; Kincaid; Meyer; Balanzategui; Stockton; Lury), this article examines the extent to which these digital texts affirm or subvert cultural constructions of “the Child.” It employs a close reading approach proposed by games scholar Diane Carr to argue that the player-avatar relationships in these games shed new light on some of the fundamental contradictions that characterise adult normativity and child alterity, and concludes by suggesting some ways in which video games might productively expand and disrupt conceptions of aetonormative power relations.

Anxious parents show higher physiological synchrony with their infants

Interpersonal processes influence our physiological states and associated affect. Physiological arousal dysregulation, a core feature of anxiety disorders, has been identified in children of parents with elevated anxiety. But little is understood about how parent-infant interpersonal regulatory processes differ when the dyad features a more anxious parent. We investigated moment-to-moment fluctuations in arousal within parent-infant dyads using miniaturised microphones and autonomic monitors. We continually recorded arousal and vocalisations in infants and parents in naturalistic home settings across day-long data segments. Our results indicated that physiological synchrony across the day was stronger in dyads featuring more rather than less anxious mothers. Across the whole recording epoch, less anxious mothers showed responsivity that was limited to ‘peak’ moments in their child’s arousal. In contrast, more anxious mothers showed greater reactivity to small-scale fluctuations. Less anxious mothers also showed behaviours akin to ‘stress buffering’ – downregulating their arousal when the overall arousal level of the dyad was high. These behaviours were absent in more anxious mothers. Our findings have implications for understanding the differential processes of physiological co-regulation in partnerships where a partner has anxiety, and for the use of this understanding in informing intervention strategies for dyads needing support for elevated levels of anxiety.

What do Parents Worry About? Examination of the Construct of Parent Worry and the Relation to Parent and Child Anxiety

Background: Previous research has indicated that parent cognition, including anxious beliefs and expectations, are associated with both parent and child anxiety symptoms and may be transferred from parent to child. However, the content and frequency of parent worry in relation to their children has yet to be examined as a potential form of anxious parent cognition, and little is known about normative parent worry. Aims: The purpose of the current study is to extend the research on parent cognition and child anxiety by focusing on parent worry (i.e. parent worry in relation to their children) as a potential predictor of child anxiety. Method: A comprehensive self-report measure of parent worry was developed and administered to a community-based sample of parents. Results: An exploratory factor analysis yielded a single factor solution. Parent worry was found to be a more robust predictor of child anxiety than parent anxiety symptoms, and parent worry mediated the association between parent anxiety symptoms and child anxiety. Most common worries reported by parents fell within the domains of life success and physical well-being. Conclusion: Overall, this study adds to the literature on parent cognitive biases and has the potential to inform parent-based interventions for the treatment of child anxiety. Further, this study provides initial data on normative parent worry.

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Valentin’s ironic forecast of the secession of Mademoiselle Nioche from her father’s domicile and his irreverent reflexion on the attitude of this anxious parent in so grave a catastrophe received a practical commentary in the fact that M. Nioche was slow to seek another...

"Lethargic" and Other Adjectives

An anathema for the general pediatrician is the task of ascertaining the significance of a child's symptoms relayed over the telephone by a parent. The use (or misuse) of certain words by a parent may determine whether a child is examined. Many other factors also are involved, including an anxious parent, the "vulnerable child" syndrome, a visiting grandparent, and a tired doctor. "Lethargic" is the most common malapropism. We often have heard the history that a child has a fever and is lethargic. Is it meningitis, septicemia, or just a viremia? Being unsure, one certainly must see the patient. Usually, at the time of the office visit, it requires a receptionist and two nurses to restrain the patient.

Personality in Anxiety Disorders

SummaryPatients with anxiety disorders are often described as anancastic, high in neuroticism, dependent and avoidant. These personalities overlap with those of nonbipolar depressives – in whom these disorders are less pronounced. Yet many indices of social adjustment appear less disturbed in anxiety disorders. Review of recent data front systematic investigations supports the thesis that the personality attributes observed in anxiety disorders represent either formes frustes expressions or postmorbid complications of these disorders.Thus, neuroticism is best viewed as subclinically expressed neurosis. Likewise, anancastic traits are not easily separable from generalized anxiety disorder; the same can be said about avoidant personality and social phobia. Avoidance appears to be an inherent psychobiologic defense which is mobilized by anxiogenic situations. Dependency, which may reflect upbringing with an anxious parent, is further accentuated by handicaps imposed by the anxiety disorder.