Spiders, bullies, monsters or terrorists: What scares Australian children?

Abstract

In recent times, Australian children have been exposed to a range of frightening images of war and terrorism in the media. To determine the possible impact of such distal events, fears were measured in a sample of 220 children aged 6 to 12 years using the Fear Survey Schedule for Children (FSSC-R) as well as a free option method. On the FSSC-R, the type and intensity of children’s fears were similar to previous studies conducted over the past two decades, with being hit by a car, bombs and being unable to breathe producing the most fear. By contrast, spontaneous responses indicated that children’s greatest fears were of animals, the dark and being lost. Surprisingly few children mentioned war and terrorism without prompting. The findings suggest that concerns about Australian children becoming more fearful as a result of media coverage of war and terrorism are not supported.