The Television Family and Children's Fright Reactions

Abstract

One major research perspective in the field of television violence suggests that children's fright reaction potential increases with age because the older child can more effectively self-identify with situations being portrayed. A second major position holds that increasing age—and its accompanying cognitive development and contextual learning—will lower the likelihood of fear occurrence. The present study was designed to examine this question among younger (second-grade) and older (sixth-grade) elementary school children. Using a format developed by Cantor and Reilly (1982), all children responded to questions regarding frequency of fear reaction, popularity of frightening programs, frequency of program avoidance, and general viewing patterns. Program-related fear was significantly more frequent among second-grade children, with girls registering more frequent fear response than boys. Evident in both groups was heavy adult program viewing and a prevalence of nonregulation by parents. Second-grade children imposed self-regulation and avoided frightening programs significantly more frequently than did sixth-grade children. Viewing regret was also significantly higher among the younger children. Implications were discussed.