The DOI matches its Crossref record; 36 of the 36 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Mother knows best: effects of maternal modelling on the acquisition of fear and avoidance behaviour in toddlers
Abstract
The present study was conducted to investigate the influence of parental modelling on the acquisition of fear and avoidance towards novel, fear-relevant stimuli in a sample of 30 toddlers. The toddlers were shown a rubber snake and spider, which were alternately paired with either negative or positive facial expressions by their mothers. Both stimuli were presented again after a 1- and a 10-min delay, while mothers maintained a neutral expression. The children showed greater fear expressions and avoidance of the stimuli following negative reactions from their mothers. This was true for both genders although the degree of modelled avoidance was greater in girls than in boys. The strong observational learning results are consistent with views that modelling constitutes a mechanism by which fear may be acquired early in life.
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“In contrast, positive maternal modelling decreases children ' s fear beliefs (Broeren et al., 2011; Egliston & Rapee, 2007; Gerull & Rapee, 2002; Kelly et al., 2010).”
From Specific Phobia in Young Children: Associations between the Origins of Fear and Clinical Expression of Phobia Symptoms. (2025) · cites this paper as Gerull & Rapee, 2002
In the citing paper
“Similar effects have been found with the modelling pathway, in which toddlers have demonstrated increased fear and avoidance when playing with a toy snake, after observing their mother modelling negative interactions with the toy (Gerull & Rapee, 2002).”
From Specific Phobia in Young Children: Associations between the Origins of Fear and Clinical Expression of Phobia Symptoms. (2025) · cites this paper as Gerull & Rapee, 2002
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“Children may internalize their parents ’ anxiety (Gerull & Rapee, 2002) and feel unable to act independently (Darlow et al., 2017).”
Latifi, A., Farahbakhsh, M., Yousefi, S., Azimi, S., Alizadeh, M., Jafari‐Koshki, T., Soltani, A., RAHIMI, S., & Abbasi, M. A. (2026) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0344126
“Furthermore, research on the evolutionary origins of insect-related fears, alongside studies of genetic mechanisms, underscores how parental conduct most notably maternal behavior can foster fearfulness in children [19,21].”
Ewing, D. L. (2014) · Sussex Research Online (University of Sussex)
Metadata
- Authors
- Gerull, F. C., & Rapee, R. M.
- Affiliations
- Macquarie University (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Rapee, Ronald M
- ORCID
- Rapee, Ronald M
- Venue
- Behaviour Research and Therapy
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2002-03
- Volume
- 40
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 279-287
- ISSN
- 0005-7967 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1987916514
- Cited by
- 352
- References
- 35
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 23 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 20 · 2016: 18 · 2015: 17 · 2014: 31 · 2013: 22 · 2012: 16
- FWCI
- 10.60
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Behaviour Research and Therapy (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Keywords
- fear acquisition, avoidance behavior, toddlers, observational learning, fear conditioning, gender differences
- MeSH terms
- Anxiety, Avoidance Learning, Psychology, Child, Facial Expression, Fear, Female, Humans, Infant, Male, Mothers
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