The DOI matches its Crossref record; 21 of the 21 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Common childhood fears and their origins
Abstract
The present study examined rank orders and characteristics of childhood fears. A 'free option' approach ('What do you fear most?') deviated markedly from the fear rank order based on the Fear Survey Schedule for Children. A second aim of the study was to investigate the origins of prevalent childhood fears. In contrast to the results of Ollendick and King (1991, Behaviour Research and Therapy, 29, 117-123), conditioning was found to be the most commonly reported pathway related to exacerbation and onset of fears. Finally, special attention was given to the top intense fear in children, namely fear of spiders. Children who reported 'none', 'some' or 'a lot' of spider fear were compared with each other in terms of pathways. No differences between the three groups were found with respect to the frequency of modeling and information experiences. However, high fearful children more often reported conditioning experiences than low or moderate fearful children.
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“increasing evidence suggests that the Pathways to Fear Survey (Doogan & Thomas, 1992; King et al., 1997; Muris et al., 1997; Ollendick & King, 1991) is a valuable tool in examining the origins of children ' s fears”
From Specific Phobia in Young Children: Associations between the Origins of Fear and Clinical Expression of Phobia Symptoms. (2025) · cites this paper as Muris et al., 1997
Citations
Cites
The conditioning theory of fearacquisition: A critical examination
Rachman, S. (1977) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/0005-7967(77)90041-9 · Cited by 1,191 · cited 2×
“That study evaluated to what extent Rachman's ( Rachman, 1977, 1991 ) theory of fear acquisition can be applied to the ten most common FSSC-R fears.”
BackgroundReliability and validity of the revised fear survey schedule for children (FSSC-R)
Ollendick, T. H. (1983) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/0005-7967(83)90087-6 · Cited by 1,013
The Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for Children
SILVERMAN, W. K., & NELLES, W. B. (1988) · Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry · doi:10.1097/00004583-198811000-00019 · Cited by 688
Ollendick, T. H., King, N. J., & Frary, R. B. (1989) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/0005-7967(89)90115-0 · Cited by 372
Neo-conditioning and the classical theory of fear acquisition
Rachman, S. (1991) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/0272-7358(91)90093-a · Cited by 256
Origins of childhood dental fear
Milgrom, P., Mancl, L., King, B., & Weinstein, P. (1995) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/0005-7967(94)00042-i · Cited by 251
The role of parental fearfulness and modeling in children's fear
Muris, P., Steerneman, P., Merckelbach, H., & Meesters, C. (1996) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/0005-7967(95)00067-4 · Cited by 228
Self-citationOrigins of childhood fears: An evaluation of Rachman's theory of fear acquisition
Ollendick, T. H., & King, N. J. (1991) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/0005-7967(91)90039-6 · Cited by 220 · cited 5×
“In line with the findings of Ollendick and King (1991) , the present study found that children more often reported negative information than either conditioning or modeling experiences.”
BackgroundMethodResultInfluentialThe etiology of phobias: A nonassociative account
Menzies, R. G., & Clarke, J. C. (1995) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/0272-7358(94)00039-5 · Cited by 207
Fears in British Children and Their Relationship to Manifest Anxiety and Depression
Ollendick, T. H., Yule, W., & Oilier, K. (1991) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.1991.tb00310.x · Cited by 182
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 101–125 of 125
Cole, G. G., Bansal, A., & Eacott, M. J. (2026) · Cognition & Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699931.2025.2606074 · Cited by 1
“Many psychological conditions do, of course, have a social learning component (Muris et al., 1997).”
Zloději nebo strašidla: čeho se bojí české děti?
PedF UK, C. R., Brümmer, M., & Valentová, H. (2019) · E-psychologie · doi:10.29364/epsy.348 · Cited by 1
“Tento rozdíl je v souladu s předchozími výzkumy (Gullone, 2000; Muris et al., 1997a, 1997b, 2000).”
InfluentialStudents’ self-reported fears and the perceived origins thereof
Loxton, H., Roomaney, R., & Cobb, C. (2018) · Journal of Child and Adolescent Mental Health · doi:10.2989/17280583.2018.1533838 · Cited by 1
Anxiety Disorders: Social Anxiety Disorder and Specific Phobia
McCabe, R. E., Hood, H. K., & Antony, M. M. (2015) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781118753378.ch54 · Cited by 1
Prevalence and determinants of common fears in children and their socio-demographic characteristic
Bener, A. (2016) · European Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.eurpsy.2016.01.180 · Cited by 1
“Consistent with other studies, fears were highly prevalent in the Arab children [10-13].”
ResultMadouh, M. (2013) · White Rose eTheses Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York)
Walgingsgevoeligheid en psychopathologische symptomen bij kinderen
van der Heiden, S. (2007)
4-6 -vuotiaiden päiväkotiin liittyvät pelot
Mäkelä, P. (2010) · Jyväskylä University Digital Archive (University of Jyväskylä)
O MEDO NA GINÁSTICA ARTÍSTICA FEMININA: ESTUDO COM ATLETAS DA CATEGORIA PRÉ- INFANTIL
Educação, E. D. (2008)
Koch, E. I. (2001) · ScholarWorks - WMU (Western Michigan University)
Fliek (2020) · Research Publications (Maastricht University) · doi:10.26481/dis.20200124lf
“Deconstructing Fear: Analysis of Fear And Related Emotional States”
Farooqi, R. (2016)
(2007) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-008045073-5/50011-3
(2003) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-008044032-3/50010-1
Angststörungen im Kindes- und Jugendalter
In‐Albon, T. (2021) · Springer Reference Medizin · doi:10.1007/978-3-662-49289-5_105-1
(2022) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-2-294-77735-6.00014-8
PROTOTYPE DESIGN OF ALLEVIATING CHILDREN'S NIGHTTIME FEARS USING DIGITAL GAME
Chou, C.-C. H. A. W.-H. (2021) · IADIS International Conference on Interfaces and Human Computer Interaction and International Conference on Game and Entertainment Technologies (IHCI/GET) · doi:10.33965/ihci_get2021_202105l022
“Gordon et al. (2007) adopted the interview questions used by Muris et al. (1997, 2001) to investigate the frequency of nighttime fears, severity of anxiety, and things that children fear the most.”
MethodThe symbolism of fear-themed drawings of Turkish and Polish children
Konieczna, E. J., & Talu, E. (2023) · Przegląd Badań Edukacyjnych · doi:10.12775/pbe.2022.021
ผลของโปรแกรมการพยาบาลเนนการลดความเจบปวดตอความกลว การใสสายสวนทางหลอดเลอดดำของเดกวยกอนเรยน
ทรัพย์ประเสริฐ, ก., ชัยวัฒน์, ว., & โรจนาวี, ส. (2020) · Journal of Nursing Research Innovation and Health · doi:10.58837/chula.jnrih.33.3.4
Imagery-based fear conditioning enhances the late positive potential
Panitz, C., & Mueller, E. M. (2026) · Cognitive Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.3758/s13415-025-01385-y · Cited by 2
“…relative to other mechanisms remain and easy answers are unlikely given that the contributions of different learning mechanism (i.e., conditioned, instructed, observational) to acquired fears vary between samples and specific fears (Muris et al., 1997; Ollendick & King, 1991; Öst & Hugdahl, 1983).”
Angststörungen im Kindes- und Jugendalter
In‐Albon, T. (2024) · Springer Reference Medizin · doi:10.1007/978-3-662-66744-6_105
Leveau, P. (2025) · EMC - Urgenze · doi:10.1016/s1286-9341(25)50851-7
Pederson, R. L. (2004) · Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy
Life in the Underground: The Portrayal of Invertebrates in Children's Literature and Comics
Claessen, S. A. R. (2015) · Otago University Research Archive (University of Otago)
Metadata
- Authors
- Muris, P., Merckelbach, H., & Collaris, R.
- Affiliations
- Maastricht University (NL)
- Venue
- Behaviour Research and Therapy
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 1997-10
- Volume
- 35
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 929-937
- ISSN
- 0005-7967 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2128569660
- Cited by
- 126
- References
- 21
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 4
- FWCI
- 6.84
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Behaviour Research and Therapy (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Therapy and Development
- Keywords
- children's fears, conditioning, spider phobia, modeling, information acquisition, children
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Animals, Child, Conditioning, Psychological, Fear, Female, Humans, Imitative Behavior, Male, Personality Assessment, Personality Development, Spiders
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