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Fear in Children and Adolescents: Relations with Negative Life Events, Attributional Style, and Avoidant Coping
Author(s) -
Ollendick Thomas H.,
Langley Audra K.,
Jones Russell T.,
Kephart Christina
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of child psychology and psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.652
H-Index - 211
eISSN - 1469-7610
pISSN - 0021-9630
DOI - 10.1111/1469-7610.00801
Subject(s) - psychology , coping (psychology) , attribution , developmental psychology , ethnic group , clinical psychology , social psychology , sociology , anthropology
In this study, we explored relations among negative life events, negative attributional style, avoidant coping, and level of fear in 99 children who had survived residential fires. Overall, negative life events, negative attributional style, and avoidant coping were found to be predictive of levels of fear. However, the relation between negative life events and fear was moderated by mother's level of education such that this prediction was obtained only for those children whose mothers were low in education level. Age, ethnicity, and sex did not moderate these relations. In addition, negative attributional style and avoidant coping were related to levels of fear in those children whose mothers were high in education levels hut not those whose mothers were low in education level. Results are discussed within a stress and coping framework.