Daily Times

It is believed that parents have a greater impact on how children react to frightening situations but a new study sheds light upon the fact that we tend to neglect, blaming the early development completely upon the parents. What we fail to realise is that friends play the most vital yet critical role in every aspect of life. Their influence advances throughout various age groups. Every child is highly affected by the impact of his friends. His surrounding tends to shape him beyond the control of his parents. According to the study, the child’s raw response to fear is what he learned from his friends.

Research experiment included kids from 7 to 10 years old. They were briefed about scary looking animals. Children were judged on how they felt about the creepy animal on their own and after they had put their heads together with their friends and exchanged their views. The original opinions were drastically switched by the kids in order to match the views of their friends. Hence the study found that very act of learning occurs under the domain of friends.

University of East Anglia Psychology researcher Jinnie Ooi, who was also in charge of the study, stated, “Studies show that children tend to choose friends who have similar attributes to themselves and that they can also become more similar through their interactions.

“In our study, there was some evidence that the friends had similar levels of anxiety symptoms and fear responses even before they had their discussion, and that they became more similar in their fears after the discussion.”

US National Institutes of Health discussed that there are one in five adults that suffer from anxiety disorder. The symptoms develop in childhood.

The sample of the study included 16 boys and 136 girls. They filled out anxiety measuring questionnaire that was completely age appropriate. This questionnaire focused on the link between anxiety and fear.

The researchers showed two pictures of animals to the participants that were unknown to them-Cusus and the quoll that are both Australian marsupials. Two contrasting views were presented to the kids about the animal’s description. One was neutral and the other stated that the creature was dangerous.

The original opinions that the kids had were recorded and then they were asked to discuss with their friends. After the discussion, the kids were asked to place the animals on a map, marking a spot where they would like to be in the image. Their opinions were analysed.

Fear was indicted through the child’s decision to put themselves away from the animals on the map. Obviously it depicted that the children were trying to avoid the animal.

Behaviour and Therapy research reports informed that the children had similar fear response as their friends after their discussions.

Gender differences were noted. Boys showed an increase in fear after their pair discussions while girls showcased serious decline in fear after their pair discussions.

There was no negative impact after the children with fear discussed their fear with their friends that suffered from anxiety.

Study was conducted on a small scale so it cannot generalise the impact of peer on fear in comparison to family or genetics,

However, results suggest that anxious children who become friends with kids who are also anxious may contribute to each other’s fearfulness.

“Therapy might help reduce anxiety in these children by helping pairs of friends learn to discuss and resolve their fears in a more positive manner that helps to diffuse anxiety,” Jinnie Ooi stated. “Childhood anxiety disorders are the most common psychological disorders in preadolescent children.”

This study can serve as an effective prevention technique that can be integrated within schools and clinical settings.

Therapy is healthy and anxiety can be overthrown.