INTRODUCTION Theoretical and empirical evidence suggests that the effect of parental verbal threat information on the offspring's fear acquisition of novel stimuli may be causal. The current study investigated this verbal fear acquisition pathway from parents to children in the unique context of Covid-19 as a novel environmental threat for parents and children. METHODS Using an online cross-sectional survey, we collected data about fear of Covid-19, parent-child communication, parental anxiety, and child temperament, in the period between June 11th 2020 and May 28th 2021. Participants were 8 to 18-year-old children (N = 195; Mage  = 14.23; 113 girls) and their parents (N = 193; Mage  = 47.82; 146 mothers) living in the Netherlands. RESULTS Children of parents with stronger Covid-19 fears also reported stronger Covid-19 fears. Moreover, parents who were more fearful of Covid-19 provided more threat-related information about the virus to their children. More parental threat information in turn was related to stronger fear of Covid-19 in their children, and partly mediated the link between parent and child fear of the virus. The link between parental threat information and children's fear of Covid-19 was not moderated by child temperament or parental anxiety. CONCLUSIONS Parental communication about Covid-19 may play a role in children's fear acquisition of Covid-19. The lack of moderation of this link by parental anxiety and child temperament may reflect the potentially adaptive nature of verbal fear transmission during the first year of the pandemic and the nonclinical levels of fear in this community sample.

中文翻译：

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“Covid-19 很危险”：父母口头威胁信息对儿童对 Covid-19 的恐惧的作用。

引言 理论和实证证据表明，父母口头威胁信息对后代对新刺激的恐惧习得的影响可能是因果关系。当前的研究调查了在 Covid-19 的独特背景下从父母到孩子的这种语言恐惧习得途径，认为这是对父母和孩子的一种新型环境威胁。方法 我们使用在线横断面调查，收集了 2020 年 6 月 11 日至 2021 年 5 月 28 日期间有关对 Covid-19 的恐惧、亲子沟通、父母焦虑和儿童气质的数据。参与者年龄在 8 至 18 岁之间-居住在荷兰的老年儿童（N = 195；Mage = 14.23；113 名女孩）及其父母（N = 193；Mage = 47.82；146 名母亲）。结果 父母对 Covid-19 有更强烈恐惧的孩子也报告说对 Covid-19 的恐惧更强烈。而且，更害怕 Covid-19 的父母向他们的孩子提供了更多有关该病毒的威胁相关信息。更多的父母威胁信息反过来又与他们的孩子对 Covid-19 的更强烈恐惧有关，并在一定程度上调节了父母和孩子对病毒的恐惧之间的联系。父母威胁信息与儿童对 Covid-19 的恐惧之间的联系不受儿童气质或父母焦虑的影响。结论 父母关于 Covid-19 的交流可能在儿童对 Covid-19 的恐惧中发挥作用。父母的焦虑和孩子的气质对这种联系缺乏缓和作用，这可能反映了大流行第一年言语恐惧传播的潜在适应性以及该社区样本中的非临床恐惧水平。