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Article Excerpt
Twenty contemporary fears (e.g., terrorist attacks, drive-by shootings, having to fight in a war) were added to E. Gullone and N. J. King's (1992) Australian Fear Survey Schedule for Children-II for use in the United States. The revised survey, the American Fear Survey Schedule for Children (J. J. Burnham, 1995), was investigated. The component structure was examined; findings on fears are reported for Grades 2-12.
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Fears of children have been under investigation since the late 1800s (e.g., Freud, 1909/1955; Hall, 1897; Jersild & Holmes, 1935a, 1935b; Jones, 1924; Watson & Rayner, 1920). A developmental influence has been evident in fear studies through the years (Angelino, Dollins, & Mech, 1956; Bauer, 1976; Derevensky, 1979; Gullone & King, 1993; Jersild & Holmes, 1935a, 1935b; King & Ollendick, 1989; Morris & Kratochwill, 1983, 1985; Ollendick, 1979). From the developmental perspective, fears are a normal part of development (Morris & Kratochwill, 1985) and are "an adaptive reaction to a real or imagined threat" (Gullone, 1996, p. 144). Gullone (1996) described distinct differences between normal fear and clinical fear, with the differentiation being "whether or not the expressed fear is age- or stage-specific and whether or not it persists over an extended period of time" (p. 144).
Developmental fear patterns are discernible in children and adolescents. Fears change as children grow older and develop cognitively and socially (Campbell, 1986). For example, fears shift from the more unrealistic fears (e.g., boogie man, scary things) to realistic fears (e.g., speaking in front of my class, nuclear war, AIDS) as age increases (Bauer, 1976). Davidson, White, Smith, and Poppen (1989) accentuated this view by stating that younger children's fears are "more global and undifferentiated" (e.g., ghosts, monsters), whereas older children have fears that are "more realistic and specific" (p. 52; e.g., bodily injury, speaking in front of my class).
Age and gender differences are distinguishable in studies on fear. In general terms, studies have shown that fears decrease with age (Burnham, 1995; Burnham & Gullone, 1997; Davidson et al., 1989; Gullone & King, 1992, 1993). Studies have also demonstrated that although most fears decrease with age, others increase with age (Angelino et al., 1956; Bamber, 1974; Burnham, 1995; Burnham & Gullone, 1997; Gullone & King, 1992, 1993; Lapouse & Monk, 1959). For example, Angelino et al. found that fears about animals and safety decreased as children grew older but that fears related to economic and political issues increased. Gullone and King (1993) noted that the fear of criticism also increased during middle school.
Gender differences have been frequently identified in studies on fear. Girls have typically reported more fears than have boys (Angelino et al., 1956; Burnham, 1995; Burnham & Gullone, 1997; King et al., 1989; Lapouse & Monk, 1959; Ollendick, 1983; Pratt, 1945). Girls have also reported higher fear intensity scores than have boys (Burnham, 1995; Burnham & Gullone, 1997; Gullone & King, 1992, 1993; Scherer & Nakamura, 1968). Researchers have attempted to explain the gender differences in boys and girls as "influenced gender-role stereotyping" (Gullone, 2000, p. 440).
FEAR SURVEY SCHEDULES
Scherer and Nakamura (1968) introduced the Fear Survey Schedule for Children (FSSC), a forerunner of standardized self-report fear scales, that provided score validity based on factor analysis for the first time. Early research studies were typically neither sound methodologically nor comparable across studies. The emergence of a standardized fear scale was an important development. Ollendick (1983) revised Scherer and Nakamura's FSSC and introduced the Fear Survey Schedule for Children-Revised (FSSC-R), which continues to be used today (e.g., King, Ollendick, & Tonge, 1997; Muris, Merckelbach, & Collaris, 1997; Muris, Merckelbach, Meesters, & Van Lier, 1997; Muris & Ollendick, 2002; Ollendick, Langley, Jones, & Kephart, 2001; Pickersgill, Valentine, Pincus, & Foustok, 1999; Ramirez & Kratochwill, 1997; Shore & Rapport, 1998; Weems, Silverman, Saavedra, Pina, & Lumpkin, 1999). A second revision of the FSSC, the Fear Survey Schedule for Children-II (FSSC-II; Gullone & King, 1992, 1993), was introduced in the early 1990s and is also frequently used in the field (e.g., Bouldin & Pratt, 1998; Burnham, 1995; Burnham & Gullone, 1997; Gullone, King, & Cummins, 1996).
Even though fear survey schedules have "been the most commonly used method for assessing youth" (Gullone, 2000, p. 435), the need for content changes in self-report fear scales has been discussed since the late 1980s and 1990s (King et al., 1989; Ramirez & Kratochwill, 1990, 1997). Researchers have not only asked for revisions and updated content on fear scales, but they have called into question how well fear scales accurately measure children's fears (Gullone & King, 1992; Muris, Merckelbach, & Meesters, et al., 1997; Owen, 1998; Ramirez & Kratochwill, 1990, 1997; Shore & Rapport, 1998). King et al. (1989) noted that the "fear survey schedule needs to be re-evaluated if normative studies are to provide an accurate and comprehensive account of the fears of children and adolescents" (p. 783). Because modified versions of the FSSC-II (Burnham, 1995) and the FSSC-R (Shore & Rapport, 1998) are recent attempts to address content changes in fear survey schedules, each will be examined.
FSSC-II
Australian researchers Gullone and King (1992, 1993) introduced the second revision of the fear survey schedule (Scherer & Nakamura, 1968), the FSSC-II. The FSSC-II updated fear content for the first time and included such items as "AIDS" and "nuclear war" and deleted such items as "fear of Russia." In a 1995 study, I modified the FSSC-II for American children in the United States and compared American youth (Burnham, 1995) with Australian youth (Gullone & King, 1992, 1993) in the first cross-national study with the FSSC-II (Burnham & Gullone, 1997).
To contend with the changes in contemporary society and to answer the call for updates in fear scales (e.g., King et al., 1989; Ramirez & Kratochwill, 1990), 20 new contemporary fear items were added to the FSSC-II (see Table 1) while completing the modification in the United States (Burnham, 1995). The scale was renamed the American Fear Survey Schedule for Children (FSSC-AM; Burnham, 1995). Eighteen of the 20 contemporary fear items on the FSSC-AM were related to upheaval in the United States (e.g., "terrorist attacks," "drive-by shootings," "gangs," "robberies," and "having to fight in a war") or societal concerns of the 21st century in the United States (e.g., "not having enough money," "my getting pregnant or getting my girlfriend pregnant"). The remaining 2 new fear items (i.e., "being raped" and "being a failure/not successful") were generated by the open-ended question, "What else makes you scared, afraid, or fearful?"
FSSC-R
Shore and Rapport (1998) adapted a fear scale for use with Hawaiian youth (named the Hawaiian Fear Survey Schedule; FSSC-HI) that was based on the FSSC-R (Ollendick, 1983). In a recent study, Muris and Ollendick (2002) used the FSSC-HI in the Netherlands. The FSSC-HI offered 14 new items, as reported by Muris and Ollendick. Eight of the new items (i.e., "being kidnapped," "myself dying," "AIDS," "nuclear war," "sharks," "taking dangerous drugs," "someone in my family dying," and "being home alone") overlap with those on the FSSC-II (Gullone & King, 1992). In addition, 2 of the new items reported by Muris and Ollendick as having been included on the updated FSSC-R (i.e., FSSC-HI) already existed on the FSSC-AM (Burnham, 1995; i.e., "being raped" and "gangs"). Four fear items were unique to the FSSC-HI (i.e., "floods," "being chased or followed," "being...
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