environmental influences on fearfulness in young children

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81 ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES ON FEARFULNESS IN YOUNG CHILDREN Patrice M. Miller Department of Psychology, Salem State College, Salem, MA 01970 Children’s fears have been of concern to many parents, educators and mental health professionals. If excessive, in terms of either number and/or frequency of occurrence, fears may be an indication of psychopathology and require treatment (Graziano, DeGiovanni & Garcia, 1979; Meyer, 1989; Wenar, 1990). It is also the case that the everyday fears of children who have not been referred for treatment may hold these children back from entering into feared situations (e.g. interacting with new peers, signing up for after-school activities or volunteering answers in class). It is of interest, therefore, to investigate not only the developmental course of normal fearfulness in children but also to investigate some possible contributors to the degree of fearfulness in children. Much of the current work on children’s fears conceptualizes individual differences in fearfulness as being due to differences in underlying temperament (e.g. Kagan, Reznick, Clarke, Snidman & Garcia-Co& 1984; Kagan, Reznick & Gibbons, 1989). The current study investigates whether there is a relationship between stressful environmental events that very young children may be exposed to (e.g. injuries) and individual differences in the number of fears they are reported to have. Parents of thirty-five children aged 1.5 to 3 years of age were asked to report on types and frequencies of children’s fears, and on potentially stressful events the child had experienced. The effect of a number of potentially stressful events, including the number of changes in child care settings, the number of hours in child care, the number of hours of television viewing, how many times the family had moved, and the child’s exposure to illness, injury or death were explored. While every child was reported to have experienced at least one fear; the number of fears reported ranged from 3 to 24 (per child). These young children were reported to fear both imaginary entities (such as monsters) and real occurrences (medical procedures, water, appliances, strangers). With respect to individual differences in fearfulness, it was found that exposure to stressors, such as illness, surgery or death, family moves or instability of child care were all significantly positively related to parental reports of higher rates of fearfulness in their children, particularly to reports of total number of fears and to reports that fears were experienced many times. While all of these young children were reported to have fears, there were considerable individual differences in the frequency of fears reported. It is possible that some of these fears result from particular experiences in children’s lives. The fact that the same parent reports the number of fears and the stressors present in the child’s life, suggests the possibility that this phenomenon could be as much due to some characteristic of the parent as of the child. Roth of these possibilities need to be explored in future research.

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ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES ON FEARFULNESS IN YOUNG CHILDREN

Patrice M. Miller

Department of Psychology, Salem State College, Salem, MA 01970

Children’s fears have been of concern to many parents, educators and mental health professionals. If excessive, in terms of either number and/or frequency of occurrence, fears may be an indication of psychopathology and require treatment (Graziano, DeGiovanni & Garcia, 1979; Meyer, 1989; Wenar, 1990). It is also the case that the everyday fears of children who have not been referred for treatment may hold these children back from entering into feared situations (e.g. interacting with new peers, signing up for after-school activities or volunteering answers in class). It is of interest, therefore, to investigate not only the developmental course of normal fearfulness in children but also to investigate some possible contributors to the degree of fearfulness in children. Much of the current work on children’s fears conceptualizes individual differences in fearfulness as being due to differences in underlying temperament (e.g. Kagan, Reznick, Clarke, Snidman & Garcia-Co& 1984; Kagan, Reznick & Gibbons, 1989). The current study investigates whether there is a relationship between stressful environmental events that very young children may be exposed to (e.g. injuries) and individual differences in the number of fears they are reported to have.

Parents of thirty-five children aged 1.5 to 3 years of age were asked to report on types and frequencies of children’s fears, and on potentially stressful events the child had experienced. The effect of a number of potentially stressful events, including the number of changes in child care settings, the number of hours in child care, the number of hours of television viewing, how many times the family had moved, and the child’s exposure to illness, injury or death were explored.

While every child was reported to have experienced at least one fear; the number of fears reported ranged from 3 to 24 (per child). These young children were reported to fear both imaginary entities (such as monsters) and real occurrences (medical procedures, water, appliances, strangers).

With respect to individual differences in fearfulness, it was found that exposure to stressors, such as illness, surgery or death, family moves or instability of child care were all significantly positively related to parental reports of higher rates of fearfulness in their children, particularly to reports of total number of fears and to reports that fears were experienced many times.

While all of these young children were reported to have fears, there were considerable individual differences in the frequency of fears reported. It is possible that some of these fears result from particular experiences in children’s lives. The fact that the same parent reports the number of fears and the stressors present in the child’s life, suggests the possibility that this phenomenon could be as much due to some characteristic of the parent as of the child. Roth of these possibilities need to be explored in future research.