Children and parents: The anxiety sensitivity, what links?

Objectives. Anxiety sensitivity (AS) is the fear of anxiety-related sensations. This work examines the relationships between childhood learning experiences and the development of AS, in a non-clinical sample of children.
Methods. Seventy normal children aged 9 to 12 years were interviewed about their learning experiences with anxiety-related and cold-related somatic symptoms. Three learning status were examined: -reinforcement, verbal transmission and observational (mother and father) learning- using the Questionnaire d'Expérience d'Apprentissage (QEA). AS levels were assessed using the Childhood Anxiety Sensitivity Index (CASI).
Results. Correlations between QEA and CASI (r between 0.31 and 0.60, p<0.01) are significant, except for the reinforcement of somatic symptoms in learning by observation of the father. For boys, all learning experiences correlate with CASI scores (r between 0.33 and 0.62, p<0.001), except the reinforcement in learning by observation of the father. For girls, two correlations are observed: for verbal transmission learning following anxiety (r = 0.57) and cold (r = 0.55) symptoms (p=0.001). The level of AS correlate with learning by observation of the father only for boys (r=0.38, p<0.05).
Conclusions. These results could suggest that learning experiences seem to play a significant role in the development of AS and suggest also a gender transmission: between different status of learning for boys and girls and between the observation of the mother and the father. Learning by observation of the father will only be linked to boy's AS. These findings bring to question the specific impact of a father's fears in the development of children's AS.