Abstract:
Childhood fears are a common and normal aspect of every child’s development. However, although most childhood fears are relatively mild and temporary, they can be distressing for children and interfere with their daily functioning. In order to enable health professionals to support children to cope with their fears, research on the normative content, number, and origins of childhood fears is needed. Aim: The objective of this cross-sectional, quantitative study was to investigate the content, number, and origin of fears experienced by middle childhood Oshiwambo-speaking children from two schools in the Khomas region, Namibia. Method: In order to answer the research question a sample of 102 children between the ages of 10 to 12 years were asked to complete a questionnaire containing the Fear List Method (FLM) and questions based on Rachman’s (1977) three pathway theory of fear acquisition. The sample was recruited using the convenience sampling method. Results: The ten most frequently expressed fears in the sample in descending order were: snake, lion, dog, spider, elephant, cat, cow, cheetah, scorpion, and bad people. About fifty percent of the reported fears were animal related. Culture and context specific fears elicited, among others include crime related fears, fears towards people belonging to cultural groups other than the Oshiwambo culture, and a fear of Covid-19. The average number of fears exhibited per child was 8.38, with a mode of 7. The most frequently reported pathway of fear acquisition in the present study was classical conditioning, followed by transmission of negative information, followed by vicarious learning, with 19.04% of answers indicating that a child did not know how he/she acquired a fear. Conclusions: The results of the present study provided first suggestions as to what the normative content, number, and origin of fears in Oshiwambo-speaking children residing in the Namibian context could be, and how these could correspond to, or differ VI from, fear profiles of children residing in different contextual backgrounds. Recommendations: In order to determine the validity and reliability of the results obtained, further studies in this context are recommended. Furthermore, within the context of fear content of being afraid of people from another culture derived in this study, the effect of Namibia’s history of apartheid and the forced segregation between the ethnic groups residing in Namibia on the fear profiles of Namibian children merits further investigation.
