Recent research has shown that the verbal information and vicarious learning pathways to fear create long term fear cognitions and can create cognitive biases and avoidance in children. However, it is unlikely that these pathways operate in isolation in the aetiology of childhood fear and the interaction between these pathways is untested. Three preliminary experiments are reported that explore the combined effect of verbal threat information and vicarious learning on self-reported fear beliefs in 7–9-year-old children. Results showed that prior negative information significantly facilitated the effect of negative vicarious learning on children's fear beliefs (Experiment 1); however, there was not a significant combined effect of verbal threat information and vicarious learning when they the information was presented during (Experiment 2) or after (Experiment 3) vicarious learning. These results support the idea that verbal information can affect CS-US associations formed in subsequent vicarious learning events, but contradict the proposal that it can change fear beliefs already acquired through vicarious learning by changing how a person evaluates the vicarious learning episode.

Parenting styles are associated with anxiety in children. Part of this association can be explained by how parenting interacts with known pathways to anxiety. Although parenting interacts with the verbal threat information pathway to create anxiogenic cognitions in children, it is not known whether parenting styles mediate the physiological component of the anxiety emotion. An experiment is reported in which 6–10-year-old children (N = 54) completed parenting styles, and anxiety beliefs questionnaires. They were then given threat, positive or no verbal information about three novel animals before being asked to place their hands in boxes they believed these animals inhabited. Their average heart rate during the approach was recorded. The results suggest that a neglectful maternal parenting style mediates the effect that verbal threat information has on physiological responses. However, a punitive maternal parenting style, maternal warmth, overprotection, and accurate monitoring were not found to have a significant effect. Paternal parenting styles were not found to have any significant effect. This experiment adds to the existing evidence demonstrating that parenting practices can mediate components of acquired anxiety emotions.

Parenting styles and the parent-child bond are associated with anxiety in children. Despite this association, little is known about the mechanism through which parenting has its effect. One possibility is that parenting interacts with other known pathways to fear. Two experiments are reported that look at the interaction between parenting styles and parent-child relationships and the verbal information pathway to fear. In Experiment 1, a punitive maternal parenting style was found to interact with the effect of threat information about a novel animal in 6–9-year-old children. Maternal warmth, neglect, overprotection and accurate monitoring were not found to have a significant effect. Experiment 2 showed that children reporting a greater number of negative interactions with their fathers had greater increases in fear beliefs about novel animals after both threat and no information. The quality of mother-child relationships did not significantly interact with the verbal information pathway. These experiments offer preliminary evidence that parenting practices influence how children react to negative information, which offers some insight into the potential causes of the association between parenting and anxiety in children.