Children's Emotional Reactions Research Articles

Prior Exposure to Creatures From a Horror Film.

This experiment assesses the impact of two exposure strategies on children's emotional and cognitive reactions to a frightening movie scene. Children from two grade levels (kindergarten and first vs. second through fourth) received a desensitization treatment in which modeled exposure to a live earthworm was factorially varied with exposure to graphic photographs of worms taken from a horror film. Children then viewed a frightening scene involving worms taken from this same film. Results indicated that exposure to photographs increased children's enjoyment of the movie segment and reduced fear reactions to the scene. In contrast, the live exposure strategy was effective in reducing fear reactions to the movie only among boys. However, live exposure did alter children's affective reactions to and judgments of worms themselves. The findings are discussed in terms of current theories of desensitization and information processing.

Putting the family back in the child

As clinicians and scientists we see daily the close tie between parental competence and emotional functioning and how children succeed with many of life's Stressors. Inadequate attention has been paid to the theoretical underpinnings of predicting children's emotional reactions to stress from a systems perspective. Longitudinal developmental studies of parental influence on children's ability to cope with life's frustrations, through reciprocal interactions and genetic predispositions, are mandatory. Theoretical frameworks are already developed which must be drawn on to derive the best predictions of when and how to involve our child patients with family support. The current essay will attempt to bridge family systems and social network theories to the understanding of children's coping with medical Stressors.

The effects of two reality explanations on children's reactions to a frightening movie scene

This experiment assesses the effectiveness of two reality explanations on children's reactions to a frightening program. Children from two age groups (5—6 vs. 7—9 years) were assigned to one of three conditions before watching a frightening movie scene: special tricks explanation, real life explanation, or no explanation. Results revealed that neither of the reality instructions influenced younger children's emotional or cognitive reactions to the program. In contrast, the special tricks explanation reduced older children's emotional responses to the movie, but had no impact on their interpretations of the program. Unexpectedly, the real life explanation did not influence older children's emotional reactions, and had only a limited effect on interpretations of the program. The findings are discussed in terms of developmental differences in perceived reality.

Child study at Clark University: 1894-1904.

A first cooperative research program in developmental psychology was established in the Clark questionnaire studies. The program was not meant to be free-standing but to elaborate an evolutionary conception of child development synthesized from findings of several scientific fields. The short-lived program had some serious faults, but an examination of its research papers suggests that it produced some worthwhile work. The child-study researchers gathered information about children's social and emotional reactions in everyday settings; one or two of their studies were replicated; they found pattern and order; they elaborated a meaningful social-biological view of child development.

A play technique to assess young children's emotional reactions to personal events: A cognitive-developmental approach.

A play technique to assess young children's emotional reactions to personal events: A cognitive-developmental approach.

Desensitizing Children's Emotional Reactions to the Mass Media

This experiment assesses the effectiveness of two desensitization strategies for reducing emotional reactions to mass media. Children from two grade levels (kindergarten and first vs. second through fourth grade) were assigned to one of three conditions before watching a frightening movie scene involving lizards: passive exposure to a live lizard, modeled exposure during which the experimenter touched the live lizard, or no exposure. Results revealed that modeled exposure decreased emotional reactions and negative interpretations of lizards for both age groups, whereas passive exposure had a more limited effect on emotional reactions and did not influence interpretations. The findings are consistent with current theories of desensitization and observational learning.

Maternal emotional signals, social referencing, and infants' reactions to strangers.

Young children's emotional reactions are often affected by the emotional reactions of those around them. Empathy may account for the phenomenon of social referencing.

Children's understanding of the implications of causal attributions for emotional experiences.

Children's perceptions of how the cause of achievement outcomes affects individuals' emotional responses were studied. In Study 1, children aged 6 and 7, 9 and 10, and 12 and 13 listened to stories describing hypothetical children's achievement outcomes. Success and failure were explicitly attributed to luck, ability, effort, or another person's intervention. After each story subjects rated the story child's emotional reactions. Only seventh graders associated pride and shame exclusively with outcomes attributed to ability and effort. Guilt was strongly associated with effort attributions, and surprise was associated with luck attributions for fourth- and seventh-grade children but not for first-grade children. The attribution-affect linkages assumed by the older children are the same as those found in previous studies of adults. In Study 2, children aged 6 and 7, 9 and 10, and 12 and 13 rated the cause of the outcomes in the same stories according to Weiner's controllability and locus dimensions. Children's placement of specific attributions on these dimensions was used to explain age differences in their beliefs about the effect of the attributions on emotional responses.

Reducing Children's Emotional Reactions to Mass Media Through Rehearsed Explanationand Exposure to a Replica of a Fear Object

An experiment was conducted to assess the effectiveness of two strategies for reducing emotional reactions to mass media. Children from two grade levels (kindergarten andfirst versus third through fifth grade) receivedo desensitization treatment in which a verbally presented explanation of tarantulas that required rehearsal (rehearsed explanation, no explanation) was factorially varied with gradual exposure to a replica ofa tarantula (exposure to a replica, no exposure). Subjects then viewed a frightening movie scene inuolving tarantulas. The two strategies reduced emotional reactions in both younger and older children. In contrast, only the rehearsed explanation altered children’s conceptions of the dangerousness of tarantulas. The findings had been predicted on the basis of developmental research on rehearsalstrategies and on the basis ofd$ferent levels of processing involved in the two types of fear-reduction techniques.

Psychologic adjustment in pediatric cardiologic interventions. Observations and recommendations

Under the assumption that no appropriate psychological care of children exists in the area of pediatric cardiology, a pediatric-cardiologic team worked together with a child-and-adolescent-psychiatrist to define the possibilities of preventing psychic traumatisation associated with cardiac interventions on children. The emotional reactions of children between 5 and 15 years of age and of their parents in connection with a cardiac catheter examination, as well as the role of the intervening doctor in his own eyes and in the eyes of the child, will be described. Practical recommendations for patients, families and institution follow, concerning the preparation of cardiac interventions with children and a detailed preparation program for cardiac catheter examination.

Anxiety reaction of hospitalized children.

This study suggests that the child's emotional reaction to hospitalization is determined by personal, interpersonal and environmental factors. The personal attribute investigated was the child's predisposition to experience anxiety, namely, trait anxiety. The interpersonal influence was the perceived level of maternal anxiety, and the environmental influence was type of hospitalization--traditional hospital or day clinic. We hypothesized that hospitalized children with high trait anxiety would experience higher anxiety state than children with low trait anxiety; hospitalized children who perceive anxious rather than calm mothers would experience more anxiety; children in a traditional hospital would experience higher anxiety state than children in a day clinic; and the most anxious children would be those who have high trait anxiety, are exposed to anxious mothers and are hospitalized in a traditional hospital. Results indicate that the child's level of trait anxiety predicted the level of experienced anxiety and so did perceived maternal anxiety. Type of hospitalization did not influence the level of anxiety, but children with high trait anxiety who attributed to their mothers a high level of anxiety reported more anxiety in the day clinic rather than in the hospital. The findings imply that, when helping children and families deal with hospitalization, personal, interpersonal and environmental factors have to be considered.

Assessment of neurovascular status in children.

This article discusses the assessment of neurovascular status in children. The article reviews the underlying pathophysiology andpossible complications of impaired circulation and innervation. Developmental principles in relation to communication and children 's emotional reactions associated with injury and hospitalization are described as they apply to neurovascular assessment. Some discussion about pain perception and assessment of pain in children is also included. When devel-opmental considerations are applied, ac-curacy and usefulness of the neurovascular assessment is enhanced.

Do nutrient supplements and dietary changes affect learning and emotional reactions of children with learning difficulties? A controlled series of 16 cases.

Detailed dietary and biochemical analyses were done on 16 consecutive cases of children aged 5-15 years referred for a combined remedial reading/behaviour modification program. Each child was given an individually designed vitamin and mineral supplement. Diets were also changed to reduce sugars and refined foods and toxic metals contamination. Cases were matched in pairs with 16 other cases on the program who were given no dietary changes but who received a one-a-day vitamin/mineral capsule as part of standard procedure at the clinic. Over 22 weeks on the program, the experimental group showed significantly greater improvements than the control group in behaviour assessed at school, at home and in the clinic. The experimental group also made significantly greater gains in reading skills. Routine Stanford-Binet intelligence tests given at week 2 and week 20 or 21 showed increased IQ scores of 5 to 35 points (mean = 17.9) for the experimental group. Increases for the control group were 0-21 points (mean = 8.4). Results suggest that subtle nutritional variables exert a substantial influence on learning and behaviour.

The Stress Response Scale: An Instrument for Use in Assessing Emotional Adjustment Reactions

This paper introduces and presents data on the Stress Response Scale, an instrument developed for use in the assessment of children's emotional adjustment reactions. This scale was designed for use...

The emotional reality of a learning disability

The fundamental problem that a learning-disabled child faces is how to compensate for the disability. In my experience, children do not get over a learning disability, but rather, they learn how to compensate for it. The foundation of the compensatory process is the child's emotional reaction to having a problem and whether or not he can channel his energy toward productive rather than counterproductive efforts to deal with it. There are a host of environmental factors that influence this

Body Image Development in the Burned Child

This descriptive study presents an approach to body image development in burned children. Disorders may occur at any level of body image experience including Body Schemata, Body Self, Body Fantasy or Body Concept. The associated defense patterns and symptoms are described with three case examples and treatment recommendations. The importance of parental attitudes toward the child's physical defects and emotional reactions is emphasized.

A study of the psychological, behavioural, emotional reactions of children and its relation to preanesthetic visit by anesthesiologist

Pediatricians and surgeons involved in the care of sick children have become increasingly a-ware that illness, hospitalization and most especially surgical operations have significant emotional and psychological impact on the growing child.The 150 children, aged 2 to 8, with strabismus were studied and classified into 4 groups.The assignment of these groups to treatment was randomly determined.Group 1: children recieved no premedication and preanesthetic visit.Group 2: children recieved a combination of hydroxyzine and atropine i.m. for premedication but no preanesthetic visit.Group 3: children recieved no premedication but preanesthetic visit.Group 4: children recieved a combination of same as group 2 for premedication as well as preanesthetic visit.All of the 150 children had been psychologically prepared using photograph of the operation room and anesthetic equipment by ward nurse before operation.All of the parent of the patient were asked to fill a questionaire containing 155 items just prior to operation and same questionaire as mailed to them 2 weeks after the operation.Multivariate analysis was used to analyze variable of items between preoperation and postoperation.The result of the analysis: frustration of the preoperation was significantly resolved postoperatively. (p<0.01)The proportion of frustraion resolution of the preanesthetic visit by anesthesiologist was not significant at Osaka Children's Health Center.

Coping with feelings: seriously ill children, their families, and hospital staff.

Leukemia, aplastic anemia, sickle cell anemia, hemophilia, lymphoma, neuroblastoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, renal failure, cystic fibrosis, scoliosis, diabetes, and asthma. These are only a few of the many chronic diseases or handicapping conditions confronting children today. Little attention has been paid to children's emotional reactions to illness and hospitalization, important facets of the healing process. In the first part of this paper, children's characteristic emotional reactions to hospitalization are discussed within a developmental framework. Next, some of the emotional reactions elicited in hospital staff and parents by seriously ill children are discussed. It is hoped that an elucidation of the types of feelings hospitalized children experience, and the kinds of emotional responses they elicit in adult caretakers, can lead to more sensitive and effective child care-giving in hospital settings.

Psychoesthetic environmental design for pediatric care facilities.

Since the emotional reactions of children have a direct effect on their health exclusive of their disease, health care facilities are obligated to serve the psychological and emotional needs of pediatric patients as well as their physiologic needs. Following guidelines of certain environmental and psychological studies, intelligent and creative decoration can be executed by use of elemental design principles to achieve the atmosphere in a facility capable of satisfying the demands of the patient, the family, and the working personnel.

Children's emotional reactions to TV violence: effects of film character, reassurance, age, and sex.

Summary Sixty-four American children, 32 between four and six years of age and 32 between eight and 11 years of age, were each shown two three-minute video episodes containing exactly the same series of violent acts. However, one of the violent episodes (HV) involved human actors while the other (PV) involved puppets. Each of these episodes was preceded by a third nonviolent episode [Standard (Std)]. The results clearly indicated that HV was judged to be “scarier” than PV. Girls also reported being more scared by both episodes, particularly HV, than the boys. Verbal reassurance proved effective in reducing the HV and PV scariness ratings made by the older children. However, with the younger children, reassurance entered into a complex interaction with the orders of presenting the two episodes. Heart rates also dropped significantly during the violent episodes, particularly during the periods of greatest violence. Finally, significant decrements in heart rates to HV occurred, regardless of whether it prece...