Don't Think That Kids Aren't Noticing: Indirect Pathways to Children's Fear of COVID-19
Open accessAbstract
The present study is couched within Rachman's three-pathway theory of fear acquisition (Rachman, 1977, 1991). Besides the direct contact with the objects of fear, this model also includes two indirect pathways to fear acquisition: negative information transmission and modeling. The study aims to explore the contribution of these three factors to the level of children's fear of COVID-19. The sample consisted of 376 children (59.6% girls), aged 7–19 (Mage = 12.77, SD age = 3.57), and one of their parents (Mage = 42.88, SD age = 6.00). The survey was conducted online during the COVID-19 national state of emergency in the Republic of Serbia. The children assessed their fear of COVID-19, general fearfulness, negative information transmission, and modeling by their parents, as well as the level of exposure to negative information outside their home. The parents assessed their own fear of COVID-19 and trait anxiety. Parents' anxiety, children's age, and children's general fearfulness were used as covariates. The results of our path analysis provide support for Rachman's notion of indirect pathways. The more the parents were afraid of COVID-19, the more they expressed this (either verbally or through their behavior), which in turn led to an increase in the children's fear of COVID-19. Furthermore, children's exposure to negative information related to COVID-19, provided by their teachers and peers or stemming from the media, directly contributed to the level of children's fear. The results of the study emphasize the importance of caregivers' behavior during global health crises and provide some clues as to what caregivers may do to protect their children's mental health in such circumstances.
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Psychoeducational strategies are especially valuable for treating youth with pandemic-related worries because they empower pediatric patients and initially modify IU.
“Consequently, psychoeducational strategies are especially valuable for treating youth with pandemic-related worries because they empower pediatric patients and serve to initially modify IU (Radanovic et al, 2021).”
From Intolerance of Uncertainty and Health-Related Anxiety in Youth amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: Understanding and Weathering the Continuing Storm (2022) · cites this paper as Radanovic et al, 2021
The Discussion > Implications recommends talking with children about the pandemic in ways that help them understand it and reduce their worries. It does not describe psychoeducation as a treatment for pediatric patients, claim that it empowers them, or discuss initially modifying intolerance of uncertainty (IU). (LLM, conf=0.83)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredRadanovic et al. (2021) found that children's worries increased with greater exposure to threat messages from parents and outside sources.
“Further, Radanovic et al. (2021) found that children’s worries increased with greater exposure to threat messages originating from parents as well as from outside sources (e.g., peers, news reports, internet, social media, etc.).”
From Intolerance of Uncertainty and Health-Related Anxiety in Youth amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: Understanding and Weathering the Continuing Storm (2022) · cites this paper as Radanovic et al., 2021
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Korte, C., Friedberg, R. D., Wilgenbusch, T., Paternostro, J. K., Brown, K., Kakolu, A., Tiller-Ormord, J., Baweja, R., Cassar, M., Barnowski, A., et al. (2022) · Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings · doi:10.1007/s10880-021-09816-x · Cited by 54 · see citing works
“Consequently, psychoeducational strategies are especially valuable for treating youth with pandemic-related worries because they empower pediatric patients and serve to initially modify IU (Radanovic et al, 2021).”
Background
- Authors
- Radanović, A., Micić, I., Pavlović, S., & Krstić, K.
- Affiliations
- University of Belgrade (RS)
- Corresponding author
- Radanović, Ana
- Venue
- Frontiers in Psychology
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2021-03-11
- Volume
- 12
- Pages
- 635952-635952
- ISSN
- 1664-1078 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7991716
- OpenAlex
- W3135228172
- Cited by
- 32
- References
- 38
- Citations by year
- 2025: 4 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 3
- FWCI
- 4.77
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Frontiers in Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- IPIR – Repository of the Institute for Educational Research (Institute for Educational Research, Belgrade, Serbia) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Faculty of Philosophy (University of Belgrade) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Ministarstvo Prosvete, Nauke i Tehnološkog Razvoja (No. 451-03-9/2021-14/200018, 451-03-9/2021-14, 451-03-9/2021-14/200018, 451-03-9/)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Social Sciences › Communication › Communication and COVID-19 Impact
- Keywords
- COVID-19 pandemic, children's fears, fear acquisition, parental role modeling, parental anxiety, media exposure, global health crisis, child mental health
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