Common fears: a comparison of adolescents' self-generated and fear survey schedule generated fears.
Investigations into normative fear in adolescence have indicated that the most common fears are consistently death-related and danger-related. Assessments have most commonly been made from self-reports on fear survey schedules. The aim of the present study, therefore, was to determine whether adolescents would provide responses comparable to those generated through the use of a fear survey schedule when asked to list their 3 greatest fears. A total of 439 adolescents aged 11 to 18 years (237 girls, 201 boys, 1 sex not reported) listed their greatest fears; then they completed the 78-item Fear Survey Schedule for Children-II (E. Gullone & N. J. King, 1992). Consistent with past research, the 10 most common fears generated via the fear schedule related to death and danger. However, on the whole, the self-generated fears deviated from the death and danger theme, also including fear of failure, fear of animals, and fear of the unknown. A tendency toward global responses in self-generated fears appeared to encompass the majority of specific death-related fears included in the fear schedule, thus allowing for other predominant fears to be listed among the 3 most common.
Lane
B
B
Department of Psychology, Monash University, Victoria, Australia.
Gullone
E
E
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002755:Choice Behavior; D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D012647:Self-Assessment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*