The fear survey schedule for children-revised (FSSC-HI): ethnocultural variations in children's fearfulness

Measurement of Anxiety in 3-9 Year Old Children Receiving Nursing Intervention

Introduction: Nurses are in an ideal position to provide special care for anxious children admitted in hospital wards. Thus, the objectives of the study were to identify the common nursing procedures done for children and to measure their level of anxiety.

Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted at a district hospital in Philippines. The respondents of the study were 235 children aged 3 – 9 years old admitted in the pediatric ward. The descriptive characteristics of the children were recorded. Venham Picture Test was used to assess the level of anxiety in children. The instrument was validated using the Good and Scates criteria and pre-tested on 30 pediatric respondents. The chi-square test and t-test were used to determine the significance of difference between the scores given by the children across different age groups and the P-value was set at 0.05.

Results: The mean age of the respondents was 5.1 (3.5) years. Males obtained an "average" mean score of anxiety 4.0 (2.0) whilst females demonstrated a "low" mean score of anxiety 3.6 (2.3). There was a highly statistical difference between the mean anxiety scores amongst patients who had a prior experience and those who had none.

Conclusion: Temperature measurement and pulse measurement were the most common procedures performed on children and demonstrated very low level of anxiety. Peripheral cannula insertion caused the maximum anxiety amongst all the procedures performed. Children aged 3 to 4 years old demonstrated the maximum anxiety when compared to children aged 5 to 9 years.

Towards a comprehensive test specification for normative adolescent fears: a conservation of resources perspective

OBJECTIVE

This study assessed the extent to which the primary tenets of Conservation of Resources theory provide an adequate basis for categorising and conceptualising normative adolescent fears.

METHOD

Initial descriptive research, using data obtained from a sample of South African adolescents (n = 163), used systematic emergent content analysis to develop a test specification (i.e., content domains and manifestations of content domains) relevant to measures of normative adolescent fears, with subsequent a priori content analyses being used to explore the content validity of the test specification with respect to the item-content of selected normative childhood and adolescent fear schedules.

RESULTS

Analyses suggest that content domains proposed by Conservation of Resources theory provide an adequate (exhaustive and mutually exclusive) basis for reliably conceptualising and categorising normative adolescent fears and for predicting the valence of specific adolescent fears.

CONCLUSIONS

A Conservation of Resources perspective was found to be of heuristic value in exploring content domains relevant to normative adolescent fears, and would appear to hold promise as a useful conceptual framework for future research in the field.

An exploratory study of fears among adolescent students from an urban cohort in India

BACKGROUND

Normal fear is an adaptive response to a real or imagined threat. Fears occur in children and adolescents at varying levels while they negotiate different developmental phases.

OBJECTIVE

The present study aimed at assessing the types of fears in children and adolescents between the ages of 11 and 19 years. Age and gender based differences in these fears were also studied.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The study sample consisted of 2010 adolescents from an urban setting between the ages of 11 and 19 who filled in a proforma questionnaire for socio-demographic details and also filled in the Fear Survey Schedule for Children-Revised (FSSC-R). Statistical analysis of the data was done along with the use of descriptive statistics.

RESULTS

The prevalence of fears among adolescents was found to be 85.17% in the total sample. Girls reported a significantly greater number of fears (p<0.0001) and greater levels of fear (p<0.0001) than boys. Age however, did not affect the number of fears reported. Girls scored significantly higher on all the subscales of the FSSC-R. 'Failing a test' emerged as the most common fear expressed by the sample. Girls expressed a greater fear for snakes and earthquakes than boys.

CONCLUSION

Girls expressed fears to a greater extent than boys and adolescents demonstrated a high level of fears in general. There is a need for further studies in this direction to elucidate the nature of fears in this population.

Psychometric Properties of Farsi Version of the Revised Fear Survey Schedule for Children

This study examined the psychometric properties of the Farsi version of the Revised Fear Survey Schedule for Children (Ollendick, 1983), namely the FSSC-FA, in a sample of Iranian children and adolescents (N = 394, 206 girls) aged 9-11:11 years. The internal consistency coefficient was found to range from .79 to .96 for total and subscale scores. The authors used exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to determine the factor structure of the FSSC-FA. The results showed that a 71-item, six-factor model provided a satisfactory fit for the structure of the FSSC-FA (RMSEA = .07, 90% CIs [.068, .072], CFI = .94, NNFI = .94, χ2/df = 2.94). With regard to gender and age differences in fears of the present sample, girls typically reported more fears than boys (Cohen's d = .28, 95% CIs [.08, .48], p < .001), but differences between older and younger participants were modest. The study also reported most common fears in the sample which were very similar to those reported by other studies except one item being specific to the Iranian population. Bearing in mind the limitations discussed, the results generally show that the FSSC-FA scores are valid and reliable to assess fears in Iranian youth.

Structure of the Italian Fear Survey Schedule for Children (FSSC-IT)

Psychometric properties of the Italian Fear Survey Schedule for Children (FSSC-IT) were examined in a large community sample of children aged 6 to 10 years. PCA and CFA yielded and confirmed a six correlated factor model, named FSSC-IT54. Internal consistency estimates of the FSSC-IT54 total score and of most of its factors were acceptable. Analyses of variance were carried out considering gender and age sub-groups and confirmed findings in the extant literature. Convergent validity of the FSSC-IT54 scores was supported by its positive correlations with a measure of childhood anxiety, the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale.

Examining the cultural validity of fear survey schedule for children: the contemporary fears of Turkish children and adolescents

The authors examined the cultural validity of Fear Survey Schedule for Children (FSSC-AM) developed by J. J. Burnham (2005) with Turkish children. The relationships between demographic variables and the level of fear were also tested. Three independent data sets were used. The first data set comprised 676 participants (321 women and 355 men) and was used for examining factor structure and internal reliability of FSSC. The second data set comprised 639 participants (321 women and 318 men) and was used for testing internal reliability and to confirm the factor structure of FSCC. The third data set comprised 355 participants (173 women and 182 men) and used for analyses of test-retest reliability, inter-item reliability, and convergent validity for the scores of FSSC. The sum of the first and second samples (1,315 participants; 642 women and 673 men) was used for testing the relationships between demographic variables and the level of fear. Results indicated that FSSC is a valid and reliable instrument to examine Turkish children's and adolescents' fears between the ages of 8 and 18 years. The younger, female, children of low-income parents reported a higher level of fear. The findings are discussed in light of the existing literature.

The Common Fears and Their Origins Among Turkish Children and Adolescents

The present study aimed to investigate the common fears and their origins among children and adolescents from different age, gender, and socioeconomic levels (SES). The sample was comprised of 642 females (48.8%) and 673 males (51.2%) with a total of 1,315 participants aged between 8 and 18 (M = 13.15; SD = 3.18). The Fear interview was utilised to examine the common fears and the role of conditioning, modelling and negative information in the development of children's fears. The result showed that the most common fear in Turkey was ‘God’, followed by ‘losing my friends’ and ‘going to Hell’. In addition, the findings revealed that Turkish students are more likely to learn fears by modelling rather than negative information transmission and conditioning. The results also indicated that negative information transmission had a more intensifying effect on the children and adolescents’ existing fear rather than modelling and conditioning. Furthermore, multinomial logistic regression was conducted to examine the effects of age, gender and SES on the origins of fear. Results showed that age and gender were significant predictors of origins of fear.

Evaluation of Dental Fear in Children during Dental Visit using Children's Fear Survey Schedule-Dental Subscale

Fear of dental treatment in children has been recognized as a source of serious health problems and it may persist into adolescence, which may lead to a disruptive behavior, during dental treatment. In order to prevent this psychometric method namely the dental subscale of the children's fear survey schedule (CFSS-DS) is a well-known psychometric scale that was developed by Cuthbert and Melamed in 1982 for assessing dental fear in children. The present study was to evaluate dental fear in children during first dental visit using CFSS-DS between three different age group 4 and 6 years, 7 and 9 years, 10 and 14 years children to select fearful and nonfearful children from a larger reference population and to estimate the dental fear children. Total 600 children show CFSS-DS of 27.17 ± 5.3385, 307 were girls (51.17%) and they showed CFSS-DS of 27.50 ± 5.060 and 293 were boys (48.83%) and they show CFSS-DS 26.84 ± 5.617. This shows that there were no significant difference in fear between boys and girls. In 4 to 6 years show total CFSS-DS 28.78 ± 5.742, 7 to 9 years show that mean and standard deviation of CFSS-DS 27.81 ± 4.783, 10 to 14 years show that mean and standard deviation of CFSS-DS 25.93 ± 5.586. Fear scores were highest for ‘injections', ‘choking', ‘noise of dentist drilling', ‘dentist drilling which was not significant between boy's and girl's but item, ‘having somebody look at you’ showed that significant differences in fear scores between boys and girls in present study. The present study concluded that dental fear decreased as age increased. Total fear scores also exhibited no strong overall sex difference or age by sex interaction.

d> Raj S, Agarwal M, Aradhya K, Konde S, Nagakishore V. Evaluation of Dental Fear in Children during Dental Visit using Children's Fear Survey Schedule-Dental Subscale. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2013;6(1):12-15.

Construction and validation of the South African version of the Fear Survey Schedule for Children: an exploratory factor analysis

The Fear Survey Schedule for Children-Revised (Ollendick, 1983) is an 80-item self-report instrument that has been used internationally to asses the number of fears and general level of fearfulness among children. Despite its widespread use, this instrument has not been adapted to the South African context. The present study addressed this gap by means of a 2-phase investigation aimed at developing a South African version of the instrument. In Phase 1, semistructured interviews were conducted with 40 children (7 to 13 years of age). Qualitative data obtained from these interviews were used to construct additional items for inclusion in the South African Fear Survey Schedule for Children-Revised. The modified scale, consisting of 97 items, was then administered to a sample of 646 children between the ages of 7 and 13 years. Further psychometric considerations resulted in the final version of the scale consisting of 74 items with high internal consistency (α=.97). The factor structure was explored by means of principal component analysis with varimax rotation and a 5-factor solution was found to provide the best conceptual fit. The factors identified were as follows: Fear of Death and Danger; Fear of the Unknown; Fear of Small Animals and Minor Threats to Self; Large Animal Fears; and Situational Fears. Differences between the South African version and the original Fear Survey Schedule for Children-Revised are noted and implications for the study of fear in South Africa and other countries are discussed.

Tenho medo de quê?

OBJETIVO: Verificar se adolescentes de ambos os sexos referem o medo como uma emoção presente e quais são as causas mais comuns de medo. MÉTODOS: Estudo descritivo, prospectivo, de corte transversal, com determinação da amostra por conveniência, que envolveu a análise de questionários aplicados aos adolescentes atendidos entre 2004 e 2006 em um ambulatório de Medicina do Adolescente. Os adolescentes responderam na sala de espera o Youth Self Report (YSR) - instrumento de triagem para problemas de comportamento. Foram analisadas as respostas ao item 29 - "tenho medo de animais, situações ou lugares, sem incluir a escola. Quais?" O teste do qui-quadrado foi utilizado para verificar a associação entre as faixas etárias (10-12, 13-15 e 16-19 anos) e sexo com o item 29 do YSR. RESULTADOS: Avaliaram-se 323 protocolos, 184 (57%) eram do sexo feminino. A emoção medo foi predominante no sexo feminino (p=0,009). Houve uma associação significante entre as respostas ao item 29 e a faixa etária, em que os mais velhos assinalaram mais a opção "frequentemente presente" do que os mais novos (p=0,048). Os motivos de medo foram diversos, mas os animais predominaram. CONCLUSÕES: A emoção medo esteve mais associada ao sexo feminino e a faixa etária dos adolescentes mais velhos. A educação, a cultura e a preservação da espécie podem estar influenciando a presença de medo nas mulheres. Diferentemente da literatura, os mais velhos relataram mais terem medo, talvez devido à maior consciência desta emoção ou pelas expectativas da faixa etária.

Psychometric assessment of the Emotional Reactions Instrument-Korean (ERI-K) to measure Korean children's emotional reaction to hospitalization

The purpose of this study was to test psychometric properties of the Emotional Reactions Instrument-Korean (ERI-K). A convenience sample of 170 hospitalized Korean children was recruited. Each child was asked to describe how she or he felt during hospitalization, through the ERI-K and the Facial Affective Scale. Surprisingly, children reported lower levels of negative emotions and physical discomfort and a moderate level of positive emotion (Happy, Good). Internal consistency reliability of .88 for the 14-item scale provides strong support for reliability. Construct validity was supported by item-to-total correlations ranging between .42 and .65. Exploratory factor analysis identified two factors that explained 54% of the variance. Further testing of the ERI-K is recommended to provide additional evidence of psychometric adequacy across Korean populations.

The Fear Survey Schedule for Children-Revised: Normative Developmental Data in Italy

The aim of the study was to explore children's fear content. Using the Italian Fear Survey Schedule for Children, an Italian-language version of Ollendick's Fear Survey Schedule for Children–Revised (1983), the study assessed the reliability of the survey and reported intensity, prevalence, and content of fears in children aged six to 10 years, using this questionnaire. 1,845 school children (931 girls, 914 boys; M age = 8.3 yr., SD = 1.4) were asked to complete the survey, indicating what they thought were their fears, and the intensity of those fears. Sex and age differences were also examined. Girls endorsed significantly higher fearfulness than did boys. Few age differences were found, with seven-year-olds appearing more fearful than 10- to 11-year-old children. Results were interpreted in relation to developmental changes. Cross-national comparisons were discussed.

Language used by Korean and Korean American children to describe emotional reactions to illness and hospitalization

Most children experience emotional distress during hospitalization. However, existing instruments for assessing emotional status in hospitalized children have limitations. To address this, the authors determine the language that Korean and Korean American children use to describe emotions that may relate to illness and hospitalization. Using a descriptive exploratory design, projective method, and card sort, the study is conducted in six Korean ethnic churches in the Midwest metropolitan area of United States and uses a convenience sample consisting of 94 children, ages 7 to 12 years. Fifteen English emotion words and 13 Korean emotion words are chosen by at least 50% of the Korean-American and Korean children, and children's emotional responses are expressed differently in Korean and English. Health care providers should be cautious about direct translation, because cultural nuances can convey different meanings in another language. In preparation for the rapid growth of minority children in the United States, health care providers should understand cultural perspectives related to minority children's experiences of health and illness and provide linguistically and culturally appropriate care.

Anxieties in Mainland Chinese and Singapore Chinese adolescents in comparison with the American norm

There is a growing literature base on child and adolescent anxiety. Cross-cultural research on child and adolescent anxiety, however, has been relatively limited. This study examined whether there were similarities and differences in the self reported anxieties in Mainland Chinese and Singapore Chinese adolescents (12-17 years of age), and whether these similarities or differences were related to gender and/or grade. This study also compared anxiety levels of Mainland Chinese and Singapore Chinese adolescents with the American normative sample (12-17 years of age). The results indicate that the levels of anxieties did not differ based on country (China and Singapore). Gender differences were evident. Gender and grade interaction effects were found on the anxiety scales. Mixed results were found when comparing Mainland Chinese and Singapore Chinese with the American normative sample on the different anxiety scales.

Social anxiety and cognitive biases in non-referred children: The interaction of self-focused attention and threat interpretation biases

Cognitive-behavioral models of social phobia emphasize the combined effects of cognitive biases in the maintenance of the condition, and recent findings in adults implicate self-focused attention as one such bias. However, research examining self-focus in youth is limited. This investigation examined the causal role of self-focused attention on threat interpretation biases in a community sample of 175 socially anxious children. Self-focused attention was experimentally induced via a mirror manipulation procedure and self-focused attention was assessed before and after mirror exposure. Social interpretation biases were examined via an ambiguous stories task with half of the children completing the task in front of a mirror and the other half without a mirror. Social anxiety predicted self-focus and threat interpretation bias. The mirror manipulation did not have an effect on focus of attention or on threat interpretation bias, nor did it interact with social anxiety. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

Changes in social fears across childhood and adolescence: age-related differences in the factor structure of the Fear Survey Schedule for Children-Revised

The (in)variance of the structure of fear across child and adolescent development was investigated using the response of 3,803 young people (aged 6-18 years) to the Fear Survey Schedule for Children-Revised (FSSC-R). It was hypothesized that the structure of fear, particularly social fear, would become more differentiated during adolescence. Confirmatory factor analysis was utilized to test the goodness-of-fit of a 5-factor solution (with one social factor, that is Failure and Criticism) and a 7-factor solution (with social items divided into three distinct subfactors) among three age groups. Results indicated that a 5-factor solution (including just one social factor) adequately characterizes the structure of fear in childhood (6-9 years), whereas a 7-factor solution (including three social factors) more appropriately characterizes the structure of fear in adolescence (10-13 and 14-18 years). It appears that a global social fear exists until around the age of 9, and that social fears becomes more differentiated thereafter.

Fears and Related Anxieties in Chinese High School Students

Chinese students from different high school settings face unique academic and emotional challenges. They are in a very vulnerable position due to high parent and teacher expectations and pressure to succeed in college entrance examinations and honour the family and the school. They are also vulnerable due to possible inappropriate parenting practices. This study examined whether there were significant differences in the number and type of reported fears and related anxieties in students from different high schools by grade level and gender, controlling for perceptions of family atmosphere. This study also investigated whether, in general, the fears and anxieties self-reported by the chinese sample differed from the normative sample. Finally it examined whether the standardized measure of fears was able to capture the unique fears of chinese students. The findings indicate that the level of fears and related anxieties did not differ based on school and grade. Gender differences were evident. Positive family atmosphere was related to decreased level of anxiety. chinese high school students were found to report higher levels of fears and related anxieties than their Western counterparts.

Validation of the Gifted Rating Scales-School Form in China

The Gifted Rating Scales-School Form (GRS-S), a teacher-completed rating scale, is designed to identify five types of giftedness and motivation. This study examines the reliability and validity of a Chinese-translated version of the GRS-S with a sample of Chinese elementary and middle school students (N = 499). The Chinese GRSS was found to have high internal consistency. Results of the confirmatory factor analysis corroborated the six-factor solution of the original GRS-S. Comparison of the GRS-S scores and measures of academic performance provide preliminary support for the criterion validity of the Chinese-translated GRS-S. Significant age and gender differences on the Chinese GRS-S were found. Results provide preliminary support for the Chinese version of the GRS-S as a reliable and valid measure of giftedness for Chinese students.

Racial/ethnic differences in internalizing and externalizing symptoms in adolescents

The prevalence of most adult psychiatric disorders varies across racial/ethnic groups and has important implications for prevention and intervention efforts. Research on racial/ethnic differences in the prevalence of internalizing and externalizing symptoms and disorders in adolescents has been less consistent or generally lacking. The current study examined the prevalence of these symptom groups in a large sample of sixth, seventh, and eighth graders in which the three major racial/ethnic groups in the U.S. (White, Black, and Hispanic/Latino) were well-represented. Hispanic females reported experiencing higher levels of depression, anxiety, and reputational aggression than other groups. Black males reported the highest levels of overtly aggressive behavior and also reported higher levels of physiologic anxiety and disordered eating than males from other racial/ethnic groups. Hispanic females also exhibited higher levels of comorbidity than other racial/ethnic groups.

Assessing fears and related anxieties in children and adolescents with learning disabilities or mild mental retardation

The purpose of the present study was to examine self-reported fears and related anxieties in children and adolescents (7-18 years of age) having learning disabilities (LD) or mild mental retardation (MIMR), and whether these fears and related anxieties differ based on gender and age. Students responded to two well validated instruments, The Fear Survey Schedule for Children-Revised and Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale. The results revealed age, gender, and disability interaction effects. Adolescent boys having mild mental retardation reported highest levels of fear related to failure and criticism, a finding that was different from those reported in previous studies. In addition, girls reported higher levels than boys of total fear, fears related to minor injury and small animals, and worry/oversensitivity. Age main effects were also observed where younger students from both the LD and the MIMR groups reported higher levels of non-specific general anxiety. Implications and directions for future research were presented.

Fear assessment in brazilian children: the relevance of dental fear

Fear frequently interferes with dental treatment procedures, producing delays and poor technical quality results. Patients exhibit avoidance and escape behaviors that may be related to aversive childhood experiences in dental treatment situations. The aim of this study was to identify the most frequent children's fears, including dental ones, using an adaptation of the FSSC-R. This instrument was used to assess 549 children divided in three groups: (G1) private school children, (G2) public school children and (G3) public school children who were surveyed during dental treatment. Results indicated higher dental fear scores for females when compared with male children. Considering all groups studied, "injection" was the 5th higher fear for the group G3, 8th for the group G1 and 14th for the group G2. Family relationship items such as "parents fighting", "parents yelling at you", "hearing my parents argue", were considered frequent fears, suggesting that family conflicts may contribute to children's emotional problems.

Normative development of fears in Greece: self-reports on the Hellenic Fear Survey Schedule for Children

This study assessed the psychometric properties of self-reports on the Hellenic Fear Survey Schedule for Children (FSSC-GR), a Greek-language version of Ollendick's FSSC-R [Behav. Res. Ther. 21 (1983) 685-692], and explored the factor structure, intensity, prevalence, and content of fears of Hellenic children aged 7-12 years. Internal consistency and temporal stability assessments of responding on the FSSC-GR were comparable to those obtained on the FSSC-R. A seven-factor solution provided the best conceptual fit for the structure of children's fears in Greece, including five components similar to factors previously obtained for the FSSC-R, plus two unique components, "Travel and Agoraphobic Fears" and "School Performance Fears." Fear intensity and prevalence scores of Hellenic children were higher than scores observed in most countries. Self-reported fear scores were higher for Hellenic girls than for boys. The relation between age and self-reported fears in Greece was complex and interpreted in relation to age-related changes in environmental demands.

Temperament, Anxiety, and Depression: Comparisons Across Five Ethnic Groups of Children

Extending analyses from a large school-based sample of children and adolescents (N = 1,126; Chorpita, 2002), this study examined anxiety and depression assessment with 5 ethnic groups in Hawaii. Ethnic differences in anxiety and depression symptoms, along with 2 temperamental characteristics-negative affectivity (NA) and positive affectivity (PA)-were examined within the context of the tripartite model of anxiety and depression (Clark & Watson, 1991). Minimal between-group differences in temperamental characteristics were found. Good fit was found for a multisample model relating NA and PA to anxiety and depressive dimensions consistently across all groups. However, significant mean level differences among ethnic groups were found for several specific anxiety dimensions, suggesting that factors outside of the tripartite model explain observed ethnic differences. Further support for the generalizability of the tripartite model was also found.

Cultural Effects on the Expression of Some Fears by Chinese and British Female Students

To compare the culturally acquired aspects of fears in two different cultures, the author gave an augmented version of the I. M. Marks and A. M. Mathews Fear Scale (1979) to 50 female students in China and 49 female students in England. When the rank ordering of the fears measured in both groups was compared, the author found a high positive correlation, suggesting cross-cultural consistencies in the ranking of fearful objects. Both groups most feared social criticism and appraisal by others, followed by fears of blood, pain, and injury. The students feared least aspects related to agoraphobia. When the expressed levels of fear were compared, the Chinese students had significantly lower fear scores for many items. The reasons for those scores are discussed in terms of lower actual fear levels, moderating response sets, or socialization practices. The fears that showed no cultural differences were the ones that had early biologically relevance, such as fear of the dark and of high places. Only the socially learned fears showed cultural differences.

The Koala Fear Questionnaire: a standardized self-report scale for assessing fears and fearfulness in pre-school and primary school children

The Koala Fear Questionnaire (KFQ) is a standardized self-report scale for assessing fears and fearfulness in children aged between 4 and 12 years. The current article presents six studies which examined the reliability and validity of the KFQ. Study 1 (N=108) demonstrated that the visual fear scales of Koala bears as employed in the KFQ are highly comparable to the standard 3-point scales that are used in other childhood fear measures. Study 2 (N=163) provided support for the convergent validity of the KFQ in a sample of 8- to 14-year-old children. That is, the scale correlated substantially with alternative measures of childhood fear and anxiety. Study 3 (N=189) showed that the KFQ possesses good internal consistency and test-retest stability in a group of 8- to 11-year-old children. The results of Studies 4 (N=129) and 5 (N=176) indicated that the KFQ is suitable for children aged 4 to 6 years and demonstrated that the psychometric properties of the scale in younger children are highly similar to those obtained in older children. Study 6 (N=926) showed that the factor structure of the KFQ was theoretically meaningful: although the data clearly pointed in the direction of one factor of general fearfulness, spurs of the commonly found five-factor solution of childhood fear were found in the KFQ. Altogether, the KFQ seems to be a valuable addition to the instrumentarium of clinicians and researchers who are working with fearful and anxious children.

The assessment of contemporary fears in adolescents using a modified version of the Fear Survey Schedule for Children-Revised

The FSSC-Hawaii (FSSC-HI; Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 12, 437-461) is a modified version of the Fear Survey Schedule for Children-Revised (FSSC-R; Behaviour Research and Therapy, 21, 685-692) that includes a number of contemporary fear stimuli and situations (e.g., "drugs", "being raped", "AIDS"). The psychometric properties of the FSSC-HI were examined in a large sample of Belgium adolescents (n = 551) aged 12-19 years. Results showed that a five- and seven-factor model both provided satisfactory fits for the structure of the FSSC-HI. Furthermore, the internal consistency of the scale was good and this appeared to be true for the five-factor as well as the seven-factor solution. Support was found for the convergent validity of the FSSC-HI. That is, FSSC-HI scores correlated in a meaningful way with scores on alternative measures of childhood anxiety. Finally, a considerable number of the "new" fear items were found to rank high in the top 10 of most common fears. The implications for the assessment of fears in children and adolescents are briefly discussed.

The effect of sociodemographic factors on dental anxiety in children seen in a suburban Nigerian hospital

OBJECTIVE

This paper attempts to determine the sociodemographic factors that relate to dental anxiety in suburban African children.

METHODS

A short form of the Dental subscale of the Child Fear Survey schedule (DFSS_SF) was administered to 81 patients (first time attendees at the clinic) between the ages of eight and 13 years. The psychometric scale was used after determining its reliability and validity to ensure that it was culturally appropriate. Age, gender, sociodemographic status were also recorded. The dental anxiety score distribution, its threshold level as well as the relationship between the sociodemographic variables and patients' anxiety were determined.

RESULTS

There was no statistically significant association between age (P = 0.856), gender (P = 0.124), socio-economic status of the children (P= 0.12) and level of dental anxiety. However, a statistically significant relationship did exist between the type of school the child attended and the anxiety level (P = 0.009). Also, 18 (14.8%) of the children were found to have high anxiety levels.

CONCLUSIONS

Further studies involving larger non-clinic samples are needed to examine the issues raised by the findings of this study.

Parental anxiety as a possible predisposing factor to child dental anxiety in patients seen in a suburban dental hospital in Nigeria

INTRODUCTION

The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between parents' anxiety level and that of the child patient.

METHODS

The Short Form of the Dental Anxiety Survey Schedule was administered to 81 children who were attending the dental clinic for the first time. The Dental Anxiety Scale was also used to collect relevant information from the parents.

RESULTS

There was no statistically significant correlation between the anxiety level of the mother (r = -0.02, P = 0.82) or the father (r = -0.59, P = 0.62) and that of their child. However, bivariate analysis showed a closer association between the anxiety levels of the mother and the child (P = 0.055) compared to that between the father and the child (P = 0.475) although this was again found not to be statistically significant.

CONCLUSION

Assessment and management of the anxiety level of the mother may be needed in some cases, both to manage the child effectively and to break the cycle of dental care anxiety in families.

Ten-year review of rating scales. II: Scales for internalizing disorders

OBJECTIVE

This article, the second in the Journal's series of 10-year updates on rating scales, summarizes scales assessing internalizing disorders.

METHOD

The authors sampled articles on mood and anxiety disorders over the past 25 years, selected scales with multiple citations over many years, and reviewed their properties. Those with adequate psychometric properties, plus continued wide literature citations or a current special niche, are presented here.

RESULTS

Rating scales for depression were developed and/or examined in the 1980s. Despite generally strong properties, they lack clear construct validity. Most have parent-report forms that broaden their suitability with youths. Anxiety scales were developed bimodally. Those developed in the 1960s to 1970s were downward modifications of adult scales. They have been criticized for unclear constructs and unsuitability for youths. Newer scales developed in the 1990s have addressed these problems and have parent-report forms. However, their utility is still being determined.

CONCLUSIONS

Rating scales can reliably, validly, and efficiently measure youths' internalizing psychopathology. They have great utility in research, treatment planning, and accountability in practice. However, the user must define the goals of measurement, consider the construct the scale measures, and use the scale within its defined capabilities. The use of more than one scale for a task is recommended.

The connection between cognitive development and specific fears and worries in normal children and children with below-average intellectual abilities: a preliminary study

The present study explored the relationship between cognitive development and anxiety phenomena in 4-12-year-old children. Fears and worries of normal children (n=176) were compared to those of children with below-average intellectual abilities (children with BAIA; n=105). We evaluated to what extent level of cognitive development as indexed by a Piagetian conservation task was associated with the presence of fears and worries. While normal children and children with BAIA did not differ with regard to the content of their fears and worries, normal children more frequently reported such anxiety phenomena during the semi-structured Anxiety Interview than did children with BAIA. Furthermore, in normal children, evidence was found to suggest that level of cognitive development contributes to the experience of fears and worries. That is, anxiety phenomena were more prevalent among those children who passed a Piagetian conservation task. However, when anxiety phenomena were assessed by means of the Koala Fear Questionnaire (KFQ), a different picture emerged. KFQ data suggested that fears were less frequent in normal children and those children with BAIA who had a higher level of cognitive functioning. Apparently, the Anxiety Interview and the KFQ tap quite different aspects of anxiety. The KFQ seems to measure primitive fears that are likely to be prevalent among children with limited cognitive capacity, whereas the Anxiety Interview assesses more sophisticated anxiety phenomena that probably depend on high levels of cognitive functioning.