Introduction. The article contains materials of a ten year longitudinal study of emotional sphere of children who survived a terrorist attack in preschool and junior school age (Beslan, Russia, 2004). The purpose of the work is to identify the aspects of fears of children who suffered a psychological trauma in an extreme social life-threatening situation.
Methods. The research methodology is based on the Vygotsky’s approach to the significance of a social environment for child development. Research methods included: annual screening by a series of drawing tests, including specially designed tests that take into account the specific nature of the trauma; expert review of materials; statistical data analysis; comparative analysis of the results by age, degree of involvement in the traumatic event and the temporal distance from it.
Results. Describes the mass trauma, its aspects, the impact on the social environment of children development, as well as the impact of ethno-cultural characteristics of the community on the duration of the trauma. Large amount of test drawings provided data for identifying of specific character of the age dynamics of fears in child “hostages” and child “witnesses”. The difference in the fears of children of these two groups is shown in terms of content and duration, despite the similarity of the initial symptomatology. The concepts of “fear of a threat” and “fear of consequences” are introduced.
Conclusions. The phenomenon of “mass trauma” was associated not only with a traumatic event, but also with the ethno-cultural characteristics of the community. The mass trauma has changed the nature of the functioning of the community, its relation to “fear”, increased its reactivity (“insecurity”). At the same time, the fears of children in time were associated more with their general cultural contexts than with the traumatic event itself. Differences in the specific nature of fears of child “hostages” and child “witnesses” in terms of content, intensity and damping in time are shown. It was revealed that the hostages had more pronounced “fear of consequences”, and witnesses had “fear of a threat”.