Abstract
Children’s fears can be defined as strong emotional reactions to actual or imaginary dangers. Most of them are common adaptive responses that serve to protect the individual from potential harm, and they tend to decrease or cease within a short period of time. New fears emerge as children become more mobile and as they appreciate social as opposed to physical threats to their well-being. The incidence of fears and their evolution have been well documented in numerous studies over the last 60 years (for reviews, see King, Hamilton, & Ollendick, 1988; Marks, 1987; Morris & Kratochwill, 1983; Smith, 1979).
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Fonseca, A.C., Yule, W., Erol, N. (1994). Cross-Cultural Issues. In: Ollendick, T.H., King, N.J., Yule, W. (eds) International Handbook of Phobic and Anxiety Disorders in Children and Adolescents. Issues in Clinical Child Psychology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1498-9_4
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