Date of Graduation

5-2014

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Psychology (MA)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Psychological Science

Advisor/Mentor

Leen-Feldner, Ellen W.

Committee Member

Eidelman, Scott H.

Second Committee Member

Feldner, Matthew T.

Abstract

Contemporary models of panic etiology would benefit from additional tests of how fear of internal cues is acquired. Drawing from literature suggesting parent-to-child verbal information transmission is one pathway by which fear of external stimuli is learned, the current study is designed to address the effects of this pathway on fearful responding to internal cues (i.e., somatic perturbation produced by a voluntary hyperventilation challenge). Specifically, 53 mothers of adolescent females between the ages of 10 and 14 years were randomly assigned to either share negative or positive information regarding their experience with a voluntary hyperventilation challenge prior to their daughters undergoing an identical challenge procedure. It was hypothesized that daughters in the negative information condition would evidence greater fear-relevant responding to the challenge than those in the positive information condition. Unexpectedly, no significant differences between groups emerged regarding daughters' response to the hyperventilation challenge. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for developmentally sensitive perspectives on panic vulnerability.

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