Analysis of Israeli Children's Fears: a Comparison of Religious and Secular Communities

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Abstract
This study examined the community intervention practice of grouping children on the basis of religious attitudes for analysing community fear responses. The study examined the differences of responses between religious and secular school populations to the Israeli Fear Survey Schedule for Children (IFSSC), an adaptation of the Wolpe and Lang (1964) Fear Survey Schedule. 283 children from secular-trend schools in Israel. 18 of the 99 items of the IFSSC (Klingman & Wiesner, 1982) showed significant differences. The study supported the continuation of the community intervention practice of grouping children on the basis of religious attitude for analyzing IFSSC responses. Religious group affiliation was found to be an influential factor in certain fear responses. The findings point to the need for investigating normative differences among subpopulations with FSS-like instruments. Pre-knowledge and the understanding of the fear level in a community is of great value for emergency-oriented consultation during a crisis. When facing an anxiety-producing situation, the focus of primary as well as early secondary prevention is reaching individuals, as well as groups, of high psychological risk (Caplan, 1964; Klingman & Ben-Eli, 1981; Ollendick & Offman, 1982; Poser & Hartmen, 1979; Shippee, Bradford & Gregory, 1982). The utilization of appropriate classification variables enhances the ability to assess the quality and the degree of reaction to stress within a community.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)