Gudonis V.P., Vachkov I.V. Fears of Modern Older Preschoolers and their Parents

Received: 04/23/2019

DOI: 10.24411/1997-9657-2019-10050

Keywords: modern preschoolers fathers mothers children’s fears parents’ fears transmission of fears phobias

Gudonis V.P., Vachkov I.V. (2019). Fears of modern older preschoolers and their parents. Preschool Education Today. 4:13, 36–45 (in Russian). DOI: 10.24411/1997-9657-2018-10050

This work is licensed under a Сreative Commons Atribiution - NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

2019, 4

Igor V. Vachkov
Doctor of Psychology, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education (Moscow, Russia)

Vytautas P. Gudonis
Special pedagogy department, Siauliai University, Siauliai, Lithuania

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of modern six-year-old children and their parents’ fears. Despite numerous studies of childhood fears around the world, the question – while important – of the typical fears of today’s preschoolers, as well as the link between these fears and those of parents in their childhood and those of today, remains poorly investigated. Clarification of this issue was the purpose of the study. To identify children’s fears and own fears of parents, a specially designed questionnaire was used. The questions were answered by fathers and mothers of older preschoolers. The types of childhood fears mentioned in the questionnaire were selected based on the results of existing studies and on a trial experiment. The revealed fears were grouped by subject and orientation. The most common fear of modern preschoolers was fear of separation from parents, which is part of the group of relational. Significant differences between boys and girls were found only in the frequency of occurrence of individual fears: fear of strangers (more often among girls), fear of bad dreams and dentists (more often among boys). The coincidence of some fears of children and their mothers allows us to suggest the transferring of fears from the first to the second, which is confirmed by the results of a survey among mothers during psychological consultations. Between the fears of children and their fathers no matches were found. Opposite trends with age fears among mothers and fathers were detected: mothers’ number of fears increases compared to childhood, fathers decreases. At the same time, there are similar fears of preschoolers’ mothers and fathers, such as fears of heights, loss of relatives, death, snakes, and dogs.

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