Table 2.
Overview of the reviewed studies’ approach to measuring parental-verbal communication
| Study | Type of parental message manipulated/assessed | Type of stimulus | Specifically | Assessment method | Specifically |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aktar et al. (2014) | Non-verbal and verbal | Social and non-social | Stranger and toy | Behavioral Measure: Fear and avoidance |
Fear: intensity and frequency of facial, bodily, and vocal/verbal expressions of fear on a scale from 1 to 5 Avoidance: child attempt to gaze away, turn away or hide from stimuli on a scale from 1 to 5 Fear and Avoidance were combined into one measure |
| Aktar et al. (2018) | Non-verbal and verbal | Social and non-social | Stranger and toy | Behavioral Measure: Fear and avoidance |
Fear: intensity and frequency of facial, bodily, and vocal/verbal expressions of fear on a scale from 1 to 5 Avoidance: child attempt to gaze away, turn away or increase distance from/ignore stimuli on a scale from 1 to 5 |
| Aktar et al. (2022) | Verbal only | Social | Stranger | Behavioral Measure: Fear and avoidance |
Fear: frequency and duration of facial, bodily, and vocal/verbal expressions of fear on a scale from 1 to 5 Avoidance: child attempt to gaze away, turn away, or increase distance from stranger, by walking away or hiding behind the parent on a scale from 1 to 5. Fear and Avoidance were combined into one measure |
| Cognitive Measure: Fear and Avoidance |
Fear: Attention Bias (Visual Search Task) Fear/Avoidance: Self-report Fear Beliefs Questionnaire (FBQ) from 1 (no, not at all) to 5 (yes, definitely) |
||||
| Physiological Measure: Fear | Fear: heart rate, beats per minute | ||||
| Becker and Ginsburg (2011) | Non-verbal and verbal | Social | Videotaped Speech | Cognitive Measure: Distress | Distress: self-evaluation of distress on a scale from 1 to 5 |
| Bell et al. (2015) | Verbal only | Non-social | Animal | Behavioral Measure: Avoidance | Avoidance: Distance in cm between Lego figure (representing child or child’s family) and animal |
| Cognitive Measure: Fear | Fear: Self-report on a scale from 0 (no fear) to 10 (extreme fear) | ||||
| Bosmans et al. (2015) | Verbal only | Non-social | Animal |
Behavioral Measure: Avoidance Cognitive Measure: Fear and Avoidance |
Avoidance: Latency time putting the hand in box with animal (Touch Box Task) Fear/Avoidance: Self-report FBQ from 1 (no, not at all) to 5 (yes, definitely) |
| Burstein and Ginsburg (2010) | Non-verbal and verbal | Non-social | Spelling test | Cognitive Measure: Anxiety and Avoidance |
Anxiety: Self-report C-FAT anxiety about the test from 0 (not at all) to 4 (extremely) Avoidance: Self-report C-FAT on desired avoidance from 0 (not at all) to 4 (very much) |
| Muris et al. (2010) | Verbal only | Non-social | Animal | Cognitive Measure: Fear and Avoidance | Fear/Avoidance: Self-report FBQ from 1 (no, not at all) to 5 (yes, definitely) |
| Muris et al. (2013) | Non-verbal and verbal | Non-social | Animal | Cognitive Measure: Fear | Fear: Self-report on a scale from 1 (no, not at all) to 5 (yes, absolutely) |
| Nimphy et al., (2023a) | Verbal only | Non-social | Virus | Cognitive Measure: Fear | Fear: Self-report Fear of COVID-19 (FCQ) on a scale from 1 (not true) to 4 (very true) |
| Radanović et al. (2021) | Verbal only (for analysis) | Non-social | Virus | Cognitive Measure: Fear | Fear: Self-report Fear of COVID-19 for Children (FC19Q-C) from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) |
|
Reider et al. (2022) Study 1 |
Verbal only | Non-social | Animal | Cognitive Measure: Fear and Avoidance | Fear/Avoidance: Self-report FBQ from 1 (no, not at all) to 5 (yes, definitely) |
|
Reider et al. (2022) Study 2 |
Verbal only | Non-social | Animal | Cognitive Measure: Fear and Avoidance | Fear/Avoidance: Self-report FBQ from 1 (no, not at all) to 5 (yes, definitely) |
| Remmerswaal et al. (2010) | Verbal only | Non-social | Animal | Cognitive Measure: Fear and Avoidance |
Fear: Wason Selection Task Fear/Avoidance: Self-report FBQ from 1 (no, not at all) to 5 (yes, definitely) |
| Remmerswaal and Muris (2011) | Verbal only | Non-social | Virus | Cognitive Measure: Fear | Fear: Self-report Fear of the Swine Flu (FSFQ) from 1 (not true) to 4 (very true) |
| Remmerswaal et al. (2013) | Verbal only | Non-social | Animal |
Behavioral Measure: Avoidance Cognitive Measure: Fear and Avoidance |
Avoidance: Latency time putting the hand in box with animal (Touch Box Task) Fear/Avoidance: Self-report FBQ from 1 (no, not at all) to 5 (yes, definitely) |
| Setiawan et al. (2018) | Non-verbal and verbal | Non-social | Dental fear | Cognitive Measure: Fear and Avoidance | Fear/Avoidance: Children Fear Survey Schedule-Dental Subscale (CFSS-DS) |
| Uy et al. (2022) | Verbal only | Non-social | Virus | Cognitive Measure: Fear and Avoidance | Fear/Avoidance: Self-report Fear of Illness and Virus Evaluation (FIVE) from 0 (not afraid at all) to 3 (afraid all the time) |