Fears in a selected group of middle childhood South Africa children : a cross cultural study

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:The primary aim of this study was to determine the content, number, level and pattern of fearsexpressed by a culturally diverse selected group of middle childhood children in the Stellenboscharea.The secondary aim of this study was to establish whether there were any differences in the fearsexpressed with respect to culture, gender and socio-econmic status (SES) as well as to ascertain anydifferences with respect to the two fear measuring instruments. The two fear measuring instrumentsadministered were the Free-Option Method (FOM) and the Fear Survey Schedule for ChildrenRevised (FSSC-R). The FOM was used to determine the content and number of fears and thestructured FSSC-R, to establish the content, number, level and pattern of fears.A predominantly quantitative method of data collection was used. In all, three questionnaires werecompleted by 404 middle childhood children between the ages of 8 and 12 years, attending fourprimary schools in the Stellenbosch area. These questionnaires comprised of the Biographicalquestionnaire, the FOM and the FSSC-R and were administered in the same order as mentioned.The data was also analysed in a quantitative manner.Culture was defined in the terms of the main representative cultural communities III theStellenbosch area, namely, black, white and coloured South African children.The content of fears based on the results of the FOM yielded only a few similarities uponcomparisons to the findings of previous studies. This, however, may be due to variations in themethodology of the FOM among studies. Similarities were found regarding the content of fearsbased on the FSSC-R results implying that certain fears are universal. The fear of crime or crimerelated aspects featured among the ten 11:0stcommon fears for all the children regardless of themeasuring instrument used. The number and level of fears for the three cultural groups were thehighest for the black South African children, followed by the coloured South African children whilethe white South African children displayed the lowest number and level of fears. The number andlevel of fears for all three cultures were generally higher than found elsewhere in the worldaccording to previous studies. The pattern of fear was similar for all three cultures. Gender differences for all three cultures were consistent with preVIOUS research with girlsexpressing more fears than boys. Girls also displayed a higher level of fears on all the five factorsthan the boys.The number and level of fears was the highest for children coming from lower SES backgroundthan those coming from higher SES background. Difficulties were experienced with regard tosample size and SES and a caution to use the results regarding SES as only tentative guidelines isgiven.The similarities between the results on the two measuring instruments, the FOM and the FSSC-R,were sparse emphasising a need for the development of emic assessment tools.In the conclusion, recommendations for future studies are provided.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University