Fears of children and the cultural context: the Turkish norms

The present study was undertaken to identify children's fears in terms of their age, gender and Socio Economic Status (SES) characteristics. Another aim of the study was the adaptation and the standardization of the "Fear Survey Schedule for Children" (FSSC) to Turkish population and to determine its psychometric properties. FSSC was given to 1237 Lower SES children aged 9-13 years. To understand the effects of social and environmental factors the results were compared with 644 children from high socio-economic level and 118 children of Turkish immigrant labourer families residing in Holland. The most prevalent 10 fear items in all three groups were also determined. Results indicated that girls had more intense and frequent fears at all age levels than boys. Low SES children reveal more fears compared to their high SES pears of their self reported fears. Fears related to death and separation occupy the top positions and religious fears that are mentioned very often by children especially by those in the lower SES group. Test-retest reliability, internal consistency and the factorial structure of the scale have proved it to be a valuable and reliable tool for research and clinical purposes in Turkey.