ВЕСТНИК ПЕРМСКОГО УНИВЕРСИТЕТА. ФИЛОСОФИЯ. ПСИХОЛОГИЯ. СОЦИОЛОГИЯ

VESTNIK PERMSKOGO UNIVERSITETA. SERIYA FILOSOFIA PSIKHOLOGIYA SOTSIOLOGIYA

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17072/2078-7898/2019-4-561-574

Age, gender and family factors of fears and anxiety
in older preschoolers
*

Nadezhda A. Sergunicheva
psychologist

Center of Social Rehabilitation and Speech Development «Inache»,
9A, Zheleznovodskaya st., Saint-Petersburg, 199155, Russia;
e-mail: ergunicheva.n@gmail.com
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9728-8068

The article studies fears and anxiety of older preschoolers depending on the age, gender and family factors (content and structural characteristics of the family). The study involved 80 mother–child dyads: 38 boys and 42 girls aged 5–6 years from Saint Petersburg. The study revealed that the total number of preschoolers’ fears corresponds to the age norm, however, high anxiety is observed. The most pronounced fears were fears of death, animals and fairy-tale characters, physical damage. In general, girls demonstrate more expressed fears. Children who have a sibling are characterized with more pronounced medical fears. Differences in anxiety by gender, age and structural characteristics of the family were not found. In the general sample, it was found that fears become less pronounced with the expansion of the sphere of parental feelings, while anxiety is more pronounced with excessive sanctions, which is natural, but less pronounced when a parental conflict is brought into the sphere of education. In the sample of boys, the total number of fears is less pronounced with indulgent overprotection; anxiety is higher when mothers take the parental role, when sanctions are excessive, or the child’s needs are ignored, and it is lower if the parental feelings are not developed. In the sample of girls, the total number of fears is greater when mothers project their own undesirable qualities on the children and less in the case of extension of the parental feelings sphere; anxiety is lower in the case of indulgent overprotection. In general, the research hypothesis was confirmed: the maturity of the style characteristics of upbringing and good emotional interaction of mothers with children are predictors for the absence of pronounced fears and moderate anxiety. At the same time, parental styles of mothers that indicate their emotional involvement and gentleness, though not being considered mature, also become predictors for the emotional well-being of preschoolers.

Keywords: older preschoolers, fears, anxiety, parental styles, child-parent emotional interaction.

References

Bitner, A.D. (2017). Strakhi doshkol’nikov [Fears preschoolers]. Nauchnye dostizheniya i otkrytiya sovremennoy molodezhi [Scientific achievements and discoveries of modern youth].Penza: Nauka i Prosveschenie Publ., pp. 1033–1037.

Brody, L.R. and Hall, J.A. (2008). Gender, emotion, and context. Handbook of emotions, ed. by M. Lewis, J.M. Haviland-Jones, L.F. Barrett. New York: Guilford Publ., pp. 395–408.

Chaplin, T.M. and Aldao, A. (2013). Gender differences in emotion expression in children: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin. No. 139, iss. 4, pp. 735–765. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030737

Chernobrovkina, S.V. and Gusarova, V.V. (2016). Voobrazhenie kak faktor proyavleniya trevozhnosti i strakhov doshkol’nikov [Imagination as the risk factor of anxiety and fears at preschoolers]. Vestnik Omskogo universiteta. Seriya: Psikhologiya [Herald of Omsk University. Series «Psychology»]. No. 2, pp. 42–52.

Eydemiller, E.G. (2004). Detskaya psikhiatriya [Child psychiatry]. Saint Petersburg: Piter Publ., 1120 p.

Faustova, I.V. (2015). Vliyanie narushennykh detsko-roditel’skikh otnosheniy na proyavlenie emotsional’nogo neblagopoluchiya v doshkol’nom vozraste [The impact of disrupted parent-child relationship on the manifestation of emotional problems at preschool age]. Sovremennye problemy nauki i obrazovaniya [Modern Problems of Science and Education]. No. 5. Available at: http://www.science-education.ru/ru/article/view?id=22235 (accessed 11.04.2019).

Golovey, L.A., Vasilenko, V.E. and Savenysheva, S.S. (2016). Struktura sem’i i semeynoe vospitanie kak faktory razvitiya lichnosti doshkol’nika [Family structure and family education as factors for personal development of preschooler]. Sotsial’naya psikhologiya i obschestvo [Social Psychology and Society]. Vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 5–18. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/sps.2016070201

Golovey, L.A., Savenysheva, S.S., Vasilenko, V.E. and Engel’gardt, E.E. (2014). K probleme differentsiatsii osnovnykh ponyatiy v sisteme otnosheniy «Roditel’ – rebenok»: teoreticheskiy i empiricheskiy aspekty [On basic concept differentiation in the «parent – child» system of relations: theoretical and empirical aspects]. Vestnik Sankt-Peterburgskogo universiteta. Seriya 12. Psikhologiya. Sotsiologiya. Pedagogika [Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Series 12. Psychology. Sociology. Education]. No. 2, pp. 84–95.

Gol’bert, E.V. and Stepnykh, A.O. (2015). Vliyanie semeynogo vospitaniya na trevozhnost’ detey starshego doshkol’nogo vozrasta [Influence of style of family education on uneasiness of children of the advanced preschool age]. Doshkol’noe obrazovanie v sovremennom izmenyayuschemsya mire: teoriya i praktika: III Mezhdunarodnaya nauchno-prakticheskaya konferentsiya [Preschool education in today’s changing world: theory and practice: 3rd International scientific and practical conference]. Chita: TSU Publ., pp. 298–301.

Gottman, J.M., Katz, L.F. and Hooven, C. (1997). Meta-emotion: how families communicate. London, New York: Routledge Publ., p. 384.

Illarionova, I.V. (2011). Issledovanie proyavleniy trevozhnosti u detey doshkol’nogo vozrasta v aspekte detsko-roditel’skikh otnosheniy [The research study of manifestation of anxiety of pre-school children in the aspect of child-parent relationship]. Vestnik Chuvashskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo universiteta im. I.Ya. Yakovleva [I. Yakovlev Chuvash State Pedagogical University Bulletin]. No. 3(71), pt. 2, pp. 100–107.

Kochetova, Yu.A. (2012). Strakhi sovremennykh doshkol’nikov i ikh svyaz’ s osobennostyami detsko-roditel’skikh otnosheniy [Fears of modern preschoolers and their connection with peculiarities of child-parent relations]. Psikhologicheskaya nauka i obrazovanie [Psychological Science and Education]. No. 3, pp. 77–87.

Mazurova, N.V. and Trofimova, Yu.A. (2013). Vzaimosvyaz’ trevozhnosti detey doshkol’nogo vozrasta i stilya semeynogo vospitaniya [Correlation between preschool children anxiety and style of family upbringing]. Voprosy sovremennoy pediatrii [Current Pediatrics]. Vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 82–88. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15690/vsp.v12i3.686

Olino, T.M., Durbin, C.E., Klein, D.N. et al. (2013). Gender differences in young children’s temperament traits: Comparisons across observational and parent-report methods. Journal of Personality. Vol. 81, iss. 2, pp. 119–129. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12000

Osorina, M.V. (2013). Sekretnyy mir detey v prostranstve mira vzroslykh [Secret world of children in the space the adult world]. Saint Petersburg: Piter Publ., 440 p.

Golovey, E.F. and Rybalko, L.A. (eds.) (2002). Praktikum po vozrastnoy psikhologii [Age-related psychology workshop]. Saint Petersburg: Rech’ Publ., 694 p.

Prikhozhan, A.M. (2000). Trevozhnost’ u detey i podrostkov: psikhologicheskaya priroda i vozrastnaya dinamika [Anxiety of children and adolescents: the psychological nature and age dynamics]. Moscow: MPSI, Voronezh: MODEK Publ., 304 p.

Root, A.K. and Denham, S.A (2010). The role of gender in the socialization of emotion: Key concepts and critical issues. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development. Vol. 2010, iss. 128, pp. 1–9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/cd.265

Ryumina, I.M. and Goncharenko, N.V. (2018). Vliyanie tipa detsko-roditel’skikh otnosheniy na soderzhanie strakhov u detey starshego doshkol’nogo vozrasta [The influence of the type of parent-child relationships on the content of children fears in preschool age]. Nauchnye issledovaniya sovremennosti: ot razrabotki k vnedreniyu [Scientific research of the present: from development to implementation]. Smolensk, pp. 85–89.

Sabirova, R.Sh. and Satenova, G.U. (2016). Izuchenie osobennostey strakhov i trevogi u detey doshkol’nogo vozrasta [Study of features of fears and anxiety in preschool age]. Mezhdunarodnyy zhurnal prikladnykh i fundamental’nykh issledovaniy [International Journal of Applied and Fundamental Research]. No 6–3, pp. 582–586.

Shvets, I.G. (2001). Roditel’sko-detskie otnosheniya kak faktor formirovaniya trevozhnosti u starshikh doshkol’nikov: dis. … kand. psikhol. nauk [Parent-child relationships as a factor in the formation of anxiety in older preschoolers: dissertation]. Yaroslavl, 181 p.

Smirnova, N.N (2019). Vliyanie detsko-roditel’skogo emotsional’nogo vzaimodeystviya na trevozhnost’ detey starshego doshkol’nogo vozrasta [Influence of parent-child emotional interaction on anxiety of preschool children]. Problemy sovremennogo pedagogicheskogo obrazovaniya [Problems of Modern Pedagogical Education]. No. 62–3, pp. 305–308.

Smirnova, V.O. (2014). Osobennosti proyavleniya trevozhnosti i agressivnosti u detey starshego doshkol’nogo vozrasta v svyazi s detsko-roditel’skimi otnosheniyami [Peculiarities of manifestations of anxiety and aggression in children of preschool age in connection with child-parent relationships]. Vestnik Permskogo gosudarstvennogo gumanitarno-pedagogicheskogo universiteta. Seriya No. 1. Psikhologicheskie pedagogicheskie nauki [Vestnik of Perm State Humanitarian Pedagogical University. Series 1. Psychological and Pedagogical Sciences]. No. 1, pp. 176–183.

Wood, J.J., McLeod, B.D., Sigman, M., et al. (2013). Parenting and childhood anxiety: theory, empirical findings, and future directions. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. Vol. 44, iss. 1, pp. 134–151. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1469-7610.00106

Zakharov, A.I. (2000). Dnevnye i nochnye strakhi u detey [Day and night fears of children]. Saint Petersburg: Soyuz Publ., 448 p.

Zakharova, E.I. (2002). Emotsional’naya storona detsko-roditel’skogo vzaimodeystviya [The emotional side of parent-child interaction]. Psikholog v detskom sadu [Psychologist in Kindergarten]. No. 1, pp. 3–29.

Received 12.09.2019

 

 

For citation:

Sergunicheva N.A. [Age, gender and family factors of fears and anxiety in older preschoolers]. Vestnik Permskogo universiteta. Filosofia. Psihologia. Sociologia [Perm University Herald. Series «Philosophy. Psychology. Sociology»], 2019, issue 4, pp. 561–574 (in Russian). DOI: https://doi.org/10.17072/2078-7898/2019-4-561-574

 

* Исследование поддержано грантом РФФИ, проект № 18-013-00990 «Семейные факторы эмоциональной компетентности дошкольников».