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AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF DEVELOPMENTAL CHANGES IN CHILDREN'S FEARS
Author(s) -
Bauer David H.
Publication year - 1976
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/j.1469-7610.1976.tb00375.x
Subject(s) - psychology , bedtime , socialization , developmental psychology , the imaginary , perception , psychoanalysis , psychiatry , neuroscience
Summary A total of 54 kindergarten, second and sixth grade children expressed their fears verbally while representing them iconically in drawings during individual interviews conducted in an investigation designed to describe developmental changes in the structure of fears. Analysis of interview content revealed decreases with grade level in the frequency of occurrence of fears with imaginary themes such as fear of ghosts and monsters, of bedtime fears and of frightening dreams, and an increase in the frequency of realistic fears involving bodily injury and physical danger. Results are discussed in terms of stages in the development of children's perception of reality, socialization processes and emergence of children's conceptions of death.