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Children's specific fears

H Meltzer1, P Vostanis, N Dogra

  • 1Department of Health Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK. hm74@le.ac.uk

Child: Care, Health and Development
|November 11, 2008
PubMed

Insights

Most children experience specific fears, with animals, blood/injections, and the dark being most common. Fear prevalence varies by socio-demographic factors, notably ethnicity, influencing childhood anxiety.

Area of Science:

  • Child Psychology
  • Developmental Psychiatry
  • Public Health

Background:

  • Childhood fears are a normal developmental phenomenon.
  • Specific fears are adaptive when proportionate to threat.
  • Understanding fear prevalence and correlates is crucial for child well-being.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To determine the prevalence of specific fears in children aged 5–16 in Great Britain.
  • To examine socio-demographic factors associated with childhood fears.
  • To investigate the relationship between ethnicity and specific fears in children.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized the Development and Well-Being Assessment on a national representative sample of children.
  • Collected data from parents regarding their child's experience of 12 specific fears.
  • Included child and family biographic, socio-demographic, and socioeconomic characteristics.

Main Results:

  • Approximately one-third of children exhibited at least one specific fear.
  • Most common fears included animals (11.6%), blood/injections (10.8%), and the dark (6.3%).
  • Specific phobias meeting diagnostic criteria were rare (<1%); however, fears of the dark, loud noises, and supernatural beings were more common in younger children, while animal fears were prevalent in girls and non-white children.

Conclusions:

  • Childhood fears, while distinct from phobias, can cause distress and functional impairment.
  • Significant ethnic variations exist in the nature of children's fears.
  • Cultural factors likely influence the expression and perception of childhood fears.
Abstract

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