Assessing the fears of children with disability using the Revised Fear Survey Schedule for Children: A comparative study

Abstract

This study compared the self-reported fears of children with disability using the Fear Survey Schedule for Children-Revised (FSSC-R). Children with intellectual disability reported a significantly greater number of fears than children with no disability, children with hearing impairment and children with visual impairment. Also the children with intellectual disability reported more idiosyncratic fears related to the unknown, injury and small animals. Consistent with normative findings (King et al., 1989b; Ollendick, King & Frary, 1989), girls reported significantly more fears than boys. Methodological issues are discussed including the reliability and validity of self-reported fears for children with disability.

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'.…”

“…Such age-related discrepancies impart special significance to the patterns of fear development and some initial work has described such changes in people with an intellectual disability (Derevensky 1979;Vandenberg 1993;King et al 1994). However, all such studies have been limited by a variety of methodological problems which include small sample sizes (e.g.…”

Annotation: Treatment of Childhood Phobias

“…Clearly these findings must be regarded as preliminary, with further research being necessary on the implications of comorbidity for the behavioural management of children's phobias. In view ofthe high incidence of fears and phobias in children with disabilities (Gullone, 1996;King, Josephs, Gullone, Madden, & Ollendick, 1994), another pleasing finding was the successful adaptation of behavioural strategies for special populations of children (see King, Ollendick, Gullone, Cummings, & Josephs, 1990, for further discussion). Finally, we endorse the increased emphasis on the family context in the treatment of childhood phobias (Ginsburg et al, 1995;Heard et al, 1992).…”

A culturally-sensitive model of the development of child anxiety.

“…Anxiety-disordered children show significant impairment in several functional domains (e.g., behavioral and academic; Barbarin, 1993;Strauss, Frame, Forehand, 1987), with a multitude of long-term implications. Not only have some childhood anxiety disorders been shown to evolve over time and exhibit a chronic course (Last et al, 1996;Ollendick & King, 1994), studies of anxiety-disordered adults show evidence of childhood and adolescent onset (Burke, Burke, Regier, & Rae, 1990;Ost, 1987).…”