Lauren K. White, Ph.D.
Research Scientist
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

“How Parents Shape Children’s Emotional Worlds: Intergenerational Pathways to Anxiety Risk and Resilience”

Abstract: In this talk, Lauren K. White will explore how risk for anxiety unfolds across generations, beginning with early-emerging differences in children’s emotional responding and sensitivity to threat. She will highlight how patterns of emotional responding, particularly heightened sensitivity to threat, are shaped by intergenerational influences, including parental anxiety, caregiving patterns, and family history of risk. Drawing on a multidisciplinary approach that integrates clinical, behavioral, and neural measures, she will present evidence for how these processes become embedded within parent–child interactions, contributing to both vulnerability and resilience. White will conclude by discussing how an intergenerational lens can inform earlier identification and more effective, family-centered approaches to prevention and intervention.

Co-sponsored by the Child Study Center