The Language of Fear: Investigating Bidirectional Relationships Between Maternal and Adolescent Social Fear-Based Language and Subsequent Adolescent Anxiety

Females are at risk of developing social anxiety disorder, a disorder that is linked to significant distress and long-term impairment. Parental warmth and control are often discussed as environmental contributors to the development of social anxiety in adolescents. Parental language, however, has received less attention, despite a significant body of evidence linking language to fear acquisition in humans. Therefore, the current study aimed to examine the impact of maternal threat- and vulnerability-promoting statements on adolescent social anxiety symptoms across three timepoints. Participants were 123 mother-daughter dyads (two-thirds of daughters were at high risk for developing social anxiety disorder and/or depression) who completed a speech preparation task at two timepoints, as well as questionnaires regarding their level of social anxiety symptoms at three timepoints. With the exception of adolescent vulnerability-promoting language, all language variables were highly zero-inflated, impacting the analyses utilizing these variables. Results suggest that, while maternal vulnerability-promoting language remained stable over time, neither maternal threat- nor vulnerability-promoting language significantly predicted social anxiety symptoms. Rather, adolescent self-reported social anxiety symptoms was the most robust predictor of future adolescent social anxiety symptoms. This study suggests that non-clinically anxious mothers may use a low frequency of vulnerability- and threat-promoting language, and/or use problem-solving strategies to help their adolescent cope with social stressors. Directions for future work utilizing parental language as a construct in relation to adolescent anxiety are discussed.