Radanović Ana, Micić Isidora, Pavlović Svetlana, Krstić Ksenija
Institute for Educational Research, Belgrade, Serbia.
Laboratory for Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
Front Psychol. 2021 Mar 11;12:635952. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.635952. eCollection 2021.
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 ( = 12.77, SD = 3.57), and one of their parents ( = 42.88, SD = 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.
本研究基于拉赫曼的恐惧习得三途径理论（拉赫曼，1977年，1991年）展开。除了与恐惧对象直接接触外，该模型还包括两条恐惧习得的间接途径：负面信息传递和模仿。本研究旨在探讨这三个因素对儿童对新冠病毒恐惧程度的影响。样本包括376名儿童（女孩占59.6%），年龄在7至19岁之间（平均年龄=12.77，标准差=3.57），以及他们的一位家长（平均年龄=42.88，标准差=6.00）。该调查在塞尔维亚共和国新冠疫情全国紧急状态期间通过网络进行。孩子们评估了自己对新冠病毒的恐惧、总体恐惧程度、负面信息传递、父母的模仿行为，以及在家外接触负面信息的程度。家长们评估了自己对新冠病毒的恐惧和特质焦虑。将家长的焦虑、孩子的年龄和孩子的总体恐惧程度作为协变量。我们的路径分析结果为拉赫曼的间接途径概念提供了支持。父母对新冠病毒越恐惧，他们就越会通过言语或行为表现出来，这反过来又导致孩子对新冠病毒的恐惧增加。此外，孩子们接触到的由老师、同龄人提供或来自媒体的与新冠病毒相关的负面信息，直接影响了他们的恐惧程度。研究结果强调了在全球健康危机期间照顾者行为的重要性，并为照顾者在这种情况下如何保护孩子的心理健康提供了一些线索。
