Abstract
Age differences in prevalence and intensity of fears in a sample of children and adolescents: Data based on the FSSC-R. The aim of this work was to examine age differences in prevalence and intensity of common fears in a large sample (N = 1.080) of nonclinical children and adolescents (ranged from 8 to 18 years). Participants completed the Spanish version of the Fear Survey Schedule for Children-Revised (FSSC-R; Ollendick, 1983). Results showed that: (1) the level of fearfulness (prevalence and intensity of fears) decreases while the age group increases; (2) all of the age groups showed increased levels in the number of fears related to the physical danger and death domain (nine of the ten most common fears belong to this fear dimension); and (3) the three groups of age endorsed 9 of the 10 same fears as their highest fears. In general, these data are consistent with those reported in other Western samples (United States, Australia and England) and provide cross-cultural validity of the Spanish version of the FSSC-R.
