Media and Children's Fears

There is an accumulating body of research evidence that the mass media, especially films and television, often induce intense fears, nightmares, and lingering anxieties in children (Cantor, 1998, 2002). National surveys of parents indicate that a majority of children have been frightened by television programs or movies. Moreover, a survey of third through eighth graders in Ohio revealed that as the number of hours of television viewing per day increased, so did the prevalence of symptoms of psychological trauma, such as anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress (Singer, Slovak, Frierson, & York, 1998). Similarly, a survey of the parents of children in kindergarten through fourth grade in Rhode Island revealed that the amount of children's television viewing (especially television viewing at bedtime) and having a television in one's own bedroom were significantly related to the frequency of sleep disturbances (Owens et al., 1999). In the latter study, 9% of the parents surveyed reported that their child experienced TV-induced nightmares at least once a week.

Studies of adults' retrospective reports of having been frightened by the mass media demonstrate that most people have vivid, detailed memories of having experienced an intense and enduring fright reaction to a movie or television program at some time in their youth. Common responses to these experiences include disturbances in sleeping or eating (nightmares, difficulties in falling asleep, stomachaches, etc.), mental preoccupation with the disturbing material (i.e., the inability to get the images off their minds), and subsequent uneasiness in real-life situations related to the content of the program or movie, which often leads to avoidance of similar situations. One study of college students reported that more than one fourth of the respondents said that the impact of a frightening program or movie was still with them at the time of reporting, an average of 6 years after exposure (Harrison & Cantor, 1999).

Studies like these reveal that it is not at all unusual to give up swimming in the ocean after seeing Jaws, a movie about sharks—in fact, a surprising number of people who saw Jaws before the age of 11 report having given up swimming altogether after seeing that movie. Many other people trace their long-term fears of specific animals, such as dogs, cats, or insects, to childhood exposure to cartoon features like Alice in Wonderland or Beauty and the Beast or to horror movies. Long-term traumatic memories of media exposure interfere with a variety of normal activities that would otherwise be unthreatening to adults.