A comparison of the fears of mildly retarded adults with children of their mental age and chronological age matched controls

Self‐reported fears: a comparison study of youths with and without an intellectual disability

“…The clearest result to emerge from this study is that youths with an intellectual disability report a significantly higher level of fearfulness and a greater number of fears than youths who are not disabled. This finding is consistent with the reports of other researchers (Derevensky 1979;Duff et al 1981;King et al 1994). However, a more detailed analysis of sub-groups and factors yielded some interesting exceptions to this general trend.…”

“…the range of stimuli which elicit fear is larger) and a higher intensity offear (i.e. the fear elicited by the stimuli is more debilitating) than people without intellectual disabilities (Duff et al 1981;King et al 1994)· More importantly, from the developmental perspective, these studies have reported differences in the content offears expressed by respondents with intellectual disabilities when compared to those without (Maurer 1965;Derevensky 1979;Sternlicht, 1979;Duff et al 1981;Vandenberg 1993;King et al 1994). For example, Derevensky (1979) found that children classified as disabled reported a higher percentage of fears relating to 'animals' and 'spooks', while reporting fewer fears relating to 'people', 'machinery' and 'death and injury'.…”

Assessing knowledge and attitudes about end of life: Evaluation of three instruments designed for adults with intellectual disability

“…() reported that adults with intellectual disability had significantly higher FODS 3.0‐intellectual disability scores, indicating more fear. This result provides evidence of criterion‐related validity, because research on fears generally (not fear of death) shows individuals with intellectual disability are more fearful than people without intellectual disability (Duff et al., ; Gullone, Cummins, & King, ).…”

“…FODS 3.0-intellectual disability inter-rater agreement was excellent. ity are more fearful than people without intellectual disability (Duff et al, 1981;Gullone, Cummins, & King, 1996).…”

Anxiety disorders in people with learning disabilities

“…Hyman et al (2002)noted significantly high compulsive behaviour in Cornelia de Lange syndrome. Studies on types of fear reported in this population demonstrate similarities between children and adults of equivalent mental age, highlighting the developmental perspective (Sternlicht, 1979;Duff, 1981;Pickersgill et al, 1994). For example individuals with moderate learning disability experience fears of: animals, thunder and ghosts (preoperational thinking), and physical injuries (concrete operational), mirroring normal Piagetian transition in non-learning disabled children.…”