fears Flashcards
physiological fear
- racing heart
- sweaty palms
- butterflies
- shaky
behavioural fear
- urge to flee
- frozen
- defensive
cognitive fear
- worry
- can’t think straight
- impending sense of doom
assessed
- directly
- retrospectively
- e.g. child interviews, questionnaires, parent/teacher report
normal childhood fears are:
- commonly experienced
- relatively mild
- appear and disappear spontaneously
- follow predictable pattern
- decrease with age
Gullone 2000 interview review
- 4-19 year olds
- average no. of fears 2-5/child
- general themes: animal, injury, unknown, social concerns
Baur 1976 what are you afraid of most?
- ages 4-12
- ‘what are you most afraid of’
- 4-6: monsters/ghosts
- 6-8: nightmares
10-12: injury/physical danger
injury fears increase with age
ollendick1983: fear survey schedule for children FSSC
- 80 items
- measure of children’s fear in response to specific situations
- none/some/a lot
- measures number, severity and types of fears children experience
gave rise to 5 reliable factors
Ollendick FSSC 5 reliable factors
- fear of danger and death
- fear of failure and criticism
- fear of the unknown
- fear of animals
- stress and medical fears
FSSC methodological issues
- outdated and contemporary threats not yet included e.g. climate change not a thing yet
- lacks cultural inclusivity
- can only measure what is included
- doesn’t count frequency of fears or how uncomfortable children find the though of a situation
Ollendick et al: FSSC in context
- almost 1200 children
- 7-16 - 3 groups
- average of 14 fears reported
- most common: dangerous situations and physical harm
moderators of childhood fears
- gender
- cultural variation
- socioeconomic effects
gender and fears -Ollendick again
- girls report more fears than boys
- fears were highest for death/danger items
gender effects - more
discrimiantions
why?
- things that mostly discriminated between boys and girls: rats, spiders snakes, alone, dreams
why?
gender role orientation: children are socialised differently according to biological sex - raised to develop attributes in line with this - may influence fear
high femineity and low masculinity = more anxiety and avoidance
- gender orientation greater predictor than biological sex
cultural variation and fears
western
western countries = consistent:
- fear decreases with age
- girls more
- content appears to have similar developmental pattern
(but some details differ based on location e.g. sharks - australia)
cultural variation within countries
hispanic youth display higher fear and anxiety than white youth