Institute of Psychology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Behav Res Ther. 2009 Jun;47(6):471-7. doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2009.02.011. Epub 2009 Feb 26.
We examined the effects of training to approach or avoid novel animals on fear-related responses in children. Ninety-five primary school children (9-13 years old) were instructed to repeatedly push away or pull closer pictures of novel animals. We tested whether this manipulation would lead to changes in self-reported attitudes, implicit attitudes, fear beliefs, and avoidance behaviors towards these animals. The training produced more positive self-reported attitudes towards the pulled animal and more negative attitudes towards the pushed animal. After the training, girls reported more fear and avoidance of the pushed animal than of the pulled animal, while such training effects were absent in boys. No significant training effects were observed on implicit attitudes. Interestingly, the level of anxiety disorder symptoms prior to training was related to some of the training effects: Stronger prior fear was related to stronger changes in self-reported attitudes, and in boys, also to fear beliefs. The finding that a simple approach-avoidance training influences children's fear-related responses lends support to general theories of fear acquisition in children as well as to models that try to explain the intergenerational transmission of anxiety.
我们考察了针对新异动物的趋近或回避训练对儿童恐惧相关反应的影响。95 名小学生（9-13 岁）被指导反复推开或拉近新异动物的图片。我们测试了这种操作是否会导致对这些动物的自我报告态度、内隐态度、恐惧信念和回避行为发生变化。训练使被拉近的动物的自我报告态度更积极，而对被推开的动物的态度更消极。训练后，女孩报告对被推开的动物的恐惧和回避程度高于对被拉近的动物，而男孩则没有这种训练效应。内隐态度没有观察到显著的训练效应。有趣的是，训练前的焦虑障碍症状水平与一些训练效应有关：更强的先前恐惧与自我报告态度的变化更强烈有关，在男孩中，也与恐惧信念有关。简单的趋近回避训练会影响儿童的恐惧相关反应，这为儿童恐惧习得的一般理论以及试图解释焦虑代际传递的模型提供了支持。
