Options
Things that go bump in the night : a study of children's fears
Author
Ng, Sharon Lay Pheng
Supervisor
D'Rozario, Vilma
Wong, Lily Yee Sheung
Abstract
This study surveyed the fears of 800 primary school pupils from two government schools and two government-aided schools in Singapore. It reports children's main fears, and how these fears vary with gender, age/level, stream, ethnicity and school type. The children are aged between 8 and 13 years. The children's fears were obtained in two ways: (a) Children were asked to draw what they feared using the "Draw-What I fear" form (DWIF: *Lam, 1996) and (b) Children were asked to respond to a self-report questionnaire, the "Questionnaire-What I Fear-Revised" (QWIF: *Lam, 1996).
To ensure that the two instruments were suitable for use in Singapore, a pilot study involving 808 primary school children from a local neigbourhood school was conducted. The instruments used in the pilot study were (a) "Draw-What I Fear" form (DWIF: Lam, 1996) and (b) the "Questionnaire-What I Fear" (QWIF: Lam, 1996). The latter instrument was adapted from the "Fear Survey Schedule for Children" (FSSC-R: Ollendick, 1983). The QWIF was later modified to form the QWIF-Revised (Lam, 1996) based on the data collected during the pilot study and was used in the actual study.
onsistent with past findings, girls generally reported significantly higher levels of fearfulness than boys. Among the 80 items in the QWIF-R instrument, the item "cockroach" was the item that best discriminated the girls from the boys.
Age differences were also found to be significant. Younger children reported a greater number of fears than older children. They were also found to have more animal fears while the older children had more fears related to social evaluation such as assessment and criticism. Both groups, however expressed the fear of ghosts.
Children from the various streams were found to have significant differences in fear. The children from the EM3 stream were found to be most fearful of the unknown while those from the EM2 stream had the highest fear scores for the "Fear of Failure and Criticism", the "Fear of Death dan Danger", the "Fear of Ghost" and "Miscellaneous Fears". In comparison, the EM1 pupils had the least fear.
With regards to ethnicity, children from the various ethnic groups had significantly different fears. Among the three major ethnic groups in Singapore, the Indians reported the highest fear scores for the "Fear of Death and Danger", the "Fear of Ghost", "Fear of the Unknown" and "Miscellaneous Fears".
Children from the government schools also reported having significantly more fears than their counterparts from the government schools on all the five factors of fear as obtained from the QWIF-R.
To ensure that the two instruments were suitable for use in Singapore, a pilot study involving 808 primary school children from a local neigbourhood school was conducted. The instruments used in the pilot study were (a) "Draw-What I Fear" form (DWIF: Lam, 1996) and (b) the "Questionnaire-What I Fear" (QWIF: Lam, 1996). The latter instrument was adapted from the "Fear Survey Schedule for Children" (FSSC-R: Ollendick, 1983). The QWIF was later modified to form the QWIF-Revised (Lam, 1996) based on the data collected during the pilot study and was used in the actual study.
onsistent with past findings, girls generally reported significantly higher levels of fearfulness than boys. Among the 80 items in the QWIF-R instrument, the item "cockroach" was the item that best discriminated the girls from the boys.
Age differences were also found to be significant. Younger children reported a greater number of fears than older children. They were also found to have more animal fears while the older children had more fears related to social evaluation such as assessment and criticism. Both groups, however expressed the fear of ghosts.
Children from the various streams were found to have significant differences in fear. The children from the EM3 stream were found to be most fearful of the unknown while those from the EM2 stream had the highest fear scores for the "Fear of Failure and Criticism", the "Fear of Death dan Danger", the "Fear of Ghost" and "Miscellaneous Fears". In comparison, the EM1 pupils had the least fear.
With regards to ethnicity, children from the various ethnic groups had significantly different fears. Among the three major ethnic groups in Singapore, the Indians reported the highest fear scores for the "Fear of Death and Danger", the "Fear of Ghost", "Fear of the Unknown" and "Miscellaneous Fears".
Children from the government schools also reported having significantly more fears than their counterparts from the government schools on all the five factors of fear as obtained from the QWIF-R.
Date Issued
1998
Call Number
BF723.F4 Ng
Date Submitted
1998