Adolescents' Attitudes about Nuclear War

Abstract

913 students from 6 junior and senior high schools in California responded to a 20-item questionnaire using 4-point Likert-type ratings to indicate their 3 greatest worries, to the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and nuclear-war-related items. On forced-choice items concerns were parents dying for 53.5%, getting bad grades for 37.0%, and nuclear war for 31.9%; however, the three greatest worries were parents dying for 54.9%, nuclear war for 32.8%, and bad grades for 25.9%. Older adolescents were less worried than younger ones, but there were no differences for sex or socioeconomic status, or for race on several items. On derived factor scores students classified as high in worry (about nuclear war) scored higher on Social Issues than low worriers but scored lower on Psychosocial Concerns. Implications for education are discussed.

Parents' Perceptions of Children's Worries in a Changing World

“…The children and their parents filled out a Children's Worry Scale, which was a modified version of an instrument created to assess adolescents' worries about nuclear war in relation to other life concerns (Doctor et al, 1987). The original instrument had three subscales, determined by factor analysis: Personal/Injury Issues (e.g., "parents dying," "becoming sickhippled," "your own death"); Psychological Issues (e.g., "people not liking you," "looking ugly," "getting bad grades"); and Public Issues (e.g., "nuclear war," "pollution," "world over-population").…”

“…By ages 9 to 11 years, children's predominant worries and fears were found to shift away from supernatural or unrealistic concerns (Orton, 1982) and to be related more to school, social acceptance, bodily injury, and global issues (Hamilton, van Mouwerik, Oetting, Beauvais, & Keilin, 1988). with a particular focus in the latter instance on nuclear war (Doctor et al, 1988;Doctor et al, 1987;King et al, 1989). A number of studies have also found a decline in worrying with age (Davidson, White, Smith, & Poppen, 1989;Hamilton et al, 1988;King et al, 1989).…”

“…First, there is reason to believe that the content of children's worries may be changing. In previous studies, older children and adolescents reported strong concerns about their personal life (e.g., getting bad grades), physical health and safety, and the threat of nuclear war (Beardslee & Mack, 1982;Doctor et al, 1987;King et al, 1989;Ollendick et al, 1985;Solantaus et al, 1985). However, with the ending of the Cold War over the last 4 years, the threat of nuclear war has greatly diminished.…”

“…Doctor, Goldenring, and Powell ( 1987) found that children who were most worried about nuclear war were less anxious overall, showed a higher level of personal and emotional adjustment, and were more optimistic about the possibility of preventing such a war. These researchers proposed that worry about nuclear war was appropriate to the situation and that too little concern might have been an indicator of ignorance, indifference, or denial (Goldenring & Doctor, 1986).…”

Worldly and workaday worries: Contemporary concerns of children and young adolescents

“…Although the findings are less consistent regarding developmental trends in types of fears, there is some evidence that younger children are more likely to express fears of animals, imaginary beings, or the unknown, whereas their older counterparts tend to worry more about realistic dangers as well as social evaluation and psychic stress (Bauer, 1976;Gullone & King, 1993;Ollendick et al, 1985). At all developmental levels, however, the most prevalent fears concern danger and death (Doctor, Goldenring, & Powell, 1987;Gullone & King, 1993;Ollendick, Yule, & Oilier, 1991;Spence & McCathie, 1993). These age and gender differences have important implications not only for developmental theories, but also for preventive and clinical interventions.…”