Age features of the manifestation of fear. Age-related features of experiencing fear Age-related fears in children

Age dynamics of fears.

The vast majority of fears are to some extent due to age-related characteristics and are temporary. Children's fears, if you treat them correctly, understand the reasons for their appearance, most often disappear without a trace. In order to influence a child and help him get rid of fears, you need to know what fear is, what function it performs, how it arises and develops, what children are most afraid of and why.

The period of pregnancy and childbirth. Anxiety experienced by a woman during pregnancy is the first "experience" of anxiety in a child. In the second half of pregnancy, the circulatory system of the fetus develops intensively, and it receives a hormonally mediated portion of anxiety through the placenta and umbilical cord whenever the mother is in a state of anxiety. Certain functional disturbances in the activity of the body are also possible in response to prolonged excitement or irritation of the mother. The mother's anxiety also causes the corresponding motor reaction of the fetus. With emotional stress in the mother during pregnancy, there was a high probability of premature birth, as well as various violations of labor activity, if the birth took place on time. In the latter case, weakness of labor activity, signs of hypoxia (lack of oxygen) and asphyxia (suffocation) in a child are more common, when it becomes necessary to conduct a number of special obstetric measures. Such a newborn is characterized by increased nervous excitability and higher muscle tone. He shudders at the slightest noise, loud voice, swaddling and bright light. The task of paramount importance is to create gentle conditions for such a nervously weakened, restless baby. To do this, in some countries they began to practice immersing a newborn in warm water, where the temperature and pressure correspond to the amniotic fluid during pregnancy. There is no bright lighting in the delivery room, silence is observed, and most importantly, the newborn is transferred to the mother as soon as possible. It is believed that a mother, like no other, is able to calm an excited child. It has also been proven that the normal rhythm of the mother's heartbeat, recorded on a tape recorder and reproduced in the ward through loudspeakers, contributes to a more rapid calming of the child. It is important not to delay the contact of the child with the mother and attachment to the breast, since in emotionally sensitive, vulnerable and nervously weakened children, stressful conditions after birth pose a serious threat to the normalization of their neuropsychic state in the future. So, the prevention of emotional disorders in children should begin even before birth. It is important that spouses know that the period of pregnancy is not the best time to doubt the advisability of having a child, passing exams and theses, sorting out relationships and taking on increased obligations. In the case of a neurotic state of one of the spouses, it is better for him to undergo appropriate treatment. When pregnancy occurs, a woman needs to be protected, to be more attentive, sensitive to her, because during this period she is more vulnerable and restless and needs, more than ever, the emotional support of loved ones. After the birth of a child, the emotional state of the mother should be not only in the field of view of the pediatrician, but also of the psychologist - since the state of the mother depends on the well-being and mental health of the child and his resistance to disease.

Period from 1 to 3 years. At this age, consciousness and speech develop intensively, movements are coordinated, exploratory forms of behavior are improved, and perseverance appears in overcoming difficulties. By the age of 2, there is an awareness of one's "I", an understanding of the differences between girls and boys, the relationship "adult - child - parent". The relationships that arise in this way are a necessary prerequisite for the development of a sense of family, which in turn is correlated with a sense of genus and, more generally, with a sense of human community. The formation of such psychological concepts is possible only in favorable family conditions, with emotional contact and mutual understanding with both parents, in the absence of constant family conflicts. Then the family becomes a reliable protection for the baby and allows you to fully develop and realize your abilities and skills. In an emotionally calm and cheerful family, by the end of the first year of life, children noticeably decrease, if they were, unsharply pronounced signs of neuropathy - a consequence of certain disorders during pregnancy and childbirth. The child worries less at night, sleeps more soundly, reacts less to noise, bright light, change of scenery. All this does not happen in those families where the parents are in conflict with each other, believing that the child is too small to realize their relationship. Of course, children do not understand, but emotionally perceive the conflict, experiencing a keen sense of anxiety whenever the behavior of adults suddenly changes. It must be remembered that the mother's emotional stress in a conflict situation is immediately transmitted to the child, adversely affecting his well-being. If the mother of a one-year-old child is very upset, is in a depressed mood, does not smile and almost does not talk to him, but often gets into an excited state and a melancholy mood, then it is not surprising that the baby is naughty, refuses food, sleeps restlessly day and night, becomes lethargic, less cheerful. As soon as the mother's mood improves, he noticeably calms down and begins to live his own emotional life. Until the age of 2, the interests of the child are entirely focused on close people, on the family, and so far there is no special need for communication with peers. With the stability of family relationships, the emotional development of the child is safe, reducing the likelihood of anxiety and contributing to a more adequate formation of his "I". Already by the age of two, children quite sensitively distinguish the sympathies of their parents, cry from resentment and interfere in the conversation of adults, unable to endure the lack of attention, "stick" to their parents, follow on their heels, not allowing them to talk with anyone for a long time. There is jealousy - the desire to undividedly possess the object of love and affection, which is primarily the mother. Anxiety due to the lack of her feelings is fully reflected in the dream, filling with horrors the disappearance of the mother and the lack of help in case of danger. Thus, night anxiety reflects the daytime troubles of the child, the lack of confidence in the strength and inviolability of the family emotional environment. When a nervously and somatically weakened child is sent to a nursery, his emotional contact with his mother is often disrupted. More pronounced anxiety when placed in a nursery in single and overprotected children, whose mothers themselves previously experienced the fear of loneliness. The child's anxiety increases even more if there are conflict relations in the family, and the mother herself is in a state of prolonged emotional stress, as happened with a boy of 2 years and 10 months old, placed in a nursery. He missed his mother, sat silently in a corner, refused food and could not sleep. At home, on the contrary, he became excitable, capricious, impatient, too touchy and timid, that is, he demanded increased attention to himself. At the age of 2, he began to be afraid of the dark and fairy-tale characters, did not let his mother go, cried and demanded her constant presence. As a result of unbearable emotional overstrain, speech worsened and stuttering appeared. Realizing his "I", separating himself from others, a child of 2 years is no longer so one-sidedly fixed on his mother. He increasingly needs to communicate with other family members. That is why children of this age become noticeably more sociable and easier to come into contact with strangers, but it becomes more and more difficult to agree in a family. No wonder the age of 2-4 years is called the age of stubbornness. In fact, we are talking about the development of volitional qualities that oppose self-doubt and indecision in actions and deeds. Those parents who mercilessly fight with the child, limit his independence all the time or protect him from any, even "non-dangerous dangers", run the risk of hindering the development of activity at the earliest stages, which further contributes to the emergence of fears. It is necessary to provide independence as early as possible, when the baby is just starting to crawl. Having removed all dangerous objects, parents should allow him to move freely around the apartment. Independence is encouraged in every possible way, "no" is pronounced only in the most necessary cases, but it is strictly observed. And the parents themselves do not have a frightened expression, anxious exclamations, panic cries, dramatic reactions and incessant prohibitions. They are calm because they know: all small objects that a child can swallow have already been removed (the need to "try on the tongue" is natural at this age). Cheerful perception of life by parents, warm emotional communication with children, respect for the growing need for independence and timely praise strengthen the volitional sphere of children, which, in turn, reduces the likelihood of fears. At this age, however, new fears ripen. The main character of terrible dreams is most often the Wolf. His sinister image often appears after hearing fairy tales, including the one about Little Red Riding Hood. The wolf dreams more often of children who are afraid of punishment from their father. In addition, the Wolf is associated with the physical pain that occurs with an imaginary bite with sharp teeth. The latter is very significant, given the fear of injections and pain characteristic of children of this age. Closer to 4 years old, Baba Yaga also begins to appear in nightmares, reflecting the problems of the child in relationships with a strict mother, who is not affectionate enough, often threatens with punishments. Carrying "bad" children to her and cracking down on them, Baba Yaga comes from a world where violence, injustice and heartlessness reign. The wolf and Baba Yaga symbolize a threat to life, physical destruction, the end of life. Together with severe, sudden pain due to physical injuries, diseases, the images of the Wolf and Baba Yaga precede the appearance of a psychologically motivated fear of death in children at 6 and 7 years old. Both of these images accumulate fear of something completely alien, disgusting, aggressively soulless and lifeless as opposed to closeness, tenderness, affection and cordiality. In order for a child to sleep peacefully at night, without terrible dreams, he must know that nothing threatens him, that he is loved and will always be protected. His day should be filled with movements, games, joy, laughter, new, but not excessive impressions. In this case, the dream will be light, bright. Of interest is our survey of 200 mothers of children aged 1-3 years according to a list of 29 types of fear. The most common in children of the 2nd year of life is the fear of unexpected sounds (52% of boys and 52% of girls). In second place is the fear of loneliness (44% of boys and 34% of girls), followed by fears of pain, injections and related fear of medical workers. At the age of 2, fears of pain and injections come to the fore (every second boy or girl), then fears of loneliness follow (48% for girls, 36% for boys). Compared with the 1st year, the fear of unexpected sounds decreases (every third boy and girl). This indicates a decrease in unconditioned reflex, instinctively conditioned fears, and an increase in fears that are mainly of a conditioned reflex nature of origin (pain, injections, health workers). The data obtained show an increased sensitivity of preschool children to sudden and painful influences, loneliness and lack of adult support. Accordingly, everything related to family conflicts, medical manipulations, being in a hospital or placement in a nursery can be a significant source of emotional stress, anxiety and fear. There are always fewer fears in the first years and they quickly disappear if the mother is next to the child, the father dominates in the family, the parents do not wage a "war" with stubbornness, they develop, rather than suppress or drown out with anxiety, the emerging "I" of the child, the parents themselves are sure in themselves and are able to help children overcome imaginary and real dangers.

Period from 3 to 5 years. This is the age of emotional fulfillment of the "I" of the child. Feelings are already indicated by words, the desire for understanding, trust, closeness with other people is clearly expressed. A sense of community is also formed - the concept of "we", by which the child first means himself and his parents, and then himself and his peers. A number of ethical categories are established, including guilt and empathy. Independence increases - the child occupies himself, does not require the constant presence of adults and seeks to communicate with peers. Fantasies develop, and with them the likelihood of imaginary fears. During these years, such emotions as love, tenderness, pity, sympathy and compassion are most intensively formed. Almost equally, these feelings are manifested in relation to both parents, if there is no conflict between them, and they are an object of love for children. Despite the feeling of love for both parents (if they are not in conflict with the child and with each other), the emotional preference of the parent of the opposite sex is noticeable, most pronounced, like all emotional development, at 4 years old. Girls dearly love their fathers, especially if they look like them, and boys are emotionally attracted to their mothers. At the age we are considering, the insufficient emotional responsiveness of the parent of the opposite sex gives rise to anxiety, mood instability and capriciousness as a means of attracting attention. For this purpose, fears, especially those that arise before going to bed, can be involuntarily used. Then parents should once again sit, talk, stroke, thereby pay attention, not be as strict, formal and principled as during the day.

But even without this, at 3-5 years old, a triad of fears is often found: loneliness, darkness and confined space. The child is not left alone when falling asleep, he constantly calls his mother, the light (night light) should be on in the room and it is necessary that the door be half open. If at least one of these conditions is not met, anxiety persists, and sleep does not occur. Excitement can also manifest itself in connection with the expectation of terrible (nightmare) dreams. In all cases, much depends on the ability of parents not to create an unnecessary problem out of these age-related fears, to calm the children in time, to gently talk to them and not to insist on the immediate fulfillment of their requirements, regardless of their experiences. And during the day, do not be distant from children. Out of sleep, the child may be afraid of a cramped room, especially when he is suddenly left alone or left as a punishment in a closed room, where there is also little light.

We have already said that preschool children are afraid of the Wolf and Baba Yaga in their dreams. At the age of 3-5 years, these characters emerge from sleep, inhabiting the imagination of an emotionally sensitive and impressionable child during the day. They are joined by Barmaley, Karabas-Barabas and other equally impartial personalities. The listed characters to a certain extent reflect the fear of punishment or alienation of parents from children with a lack of love, pity and sympathy, which are so essential at this age.

According to the factor analysis, the factor of fears has the largest share, which includes fears of loneliness, attacks and fairy-tale characters, and in boys to a greater extent than in girls. Thus, at a younger preschool age, the fear of loneliness, based on a diffuse feeling of anxiety, is concretized by the fear of attack, embodied in the face of scary fairy-tale characters. The decoding of this combination of fears is as follows: the child, left alone, without the support of his parents, experiences a sense of danger and an instinctive fear of fairy-tale characters threatening his life. In other words, he does not feel secure enough to resist in his imagination the negative impact of fairy tale characters. That is why the active participation of the father in the life of the family and the upbringing of children can have the most positive impact on the development of the emotional and volitional spheres of children.

Returning to the age of 3-5 years, we note that there are much fewer fears in children who have the opportunity to communicate with their peers. This is not surprising, since it is then that the whole palette of emotions is revealed, the skills of protection, adequate perception of failure and flexibility of behavior in general are acquired.

The more than prosperous atmosphere in the family contributes to fears, but with excessive guardianship, the constant presence of adults nearby, warning of each independent step of the child. All this involuntarily emphasizes that he is weak and defenseless against the world around him, full of uncertainty and danger. It does not allow the formation of adequate psychological protection against fears and too compliant, indecisive behavior of parents, who constantly doubt the correctness of their actions and already by this they reveal the inconsistency of their demands and decisions.

Period from 5 to 7 years. One of the characteristic features of senior preschool age is the intensive development of abstract thinking, the ability to generalize, classify, realize the categories of time and space, search for answers to the questions: "Where did everything come from?", "Why do people live?". At this age, the experience of interpersonal relationships, based on the child's ability to accept and play roles, anticipate and plan the actions of another, understand his feelings and intentions. Relations with people become more flexible, versatile and at the same time purposeful. A system of values ​​(value orientations), a sense of home, kinship, an understanding of the importance of the family for procreation are being formed. In general, children of older preschool age are characterized by sociability and the need for friendship. There is a noticeable predominance in the kindergarten group of communication with peers of the same sex, acceptance among which is essential for self-affirmation and adequate self-esteem.

6-year-old children have already developed an understanding that in addition to good, kind and sympathetic parents, there are also bad ones. The bad ones are not only those who treat the child unfairly, but also those who quarrel and cannot find agreement among themselves. We find reflection in age-typical fears of devils as violators of social rules and established foundations, and at the same time as representatives of the other world. Obedient children who have experienced a feeling of guilt characteristic of age in violation of the rules and regulations in relation to authoritative persons significant to them are more susceptible to the fear of devils.

At the age of 5, transient obsessive repetitions of "indecent" words are characteristic, at the age of 6 - children are overcome by anxiety and doubts about their future, at the age of 7 - suspiciousness is observed. Age-related manifestations of obsession, anxiety and suspiciousness themselves disappear in children if the parents are cheerful, calm, self-confident, and also if they take into account the individual and gender characteristics of their child. Anxious expectations of children are dispelled by calm analysis, authoritative explanation and persuasion. With regard to suspiciousness, the best thing is not to reinforce it, switch the child's attention, run around with him, play, cause physical fatigue and constantly express your own firm confidence in the certainty of the events taking place.

As already mentioned, a parent of the same sex enjoys exceptional authority among older preschoolers. He is imitated in everything, including habits, demeanor and style of relationship with a parent of the opposite sex, whom they still love. Note that emotionally warm relations with both parents are possible only if there is no conflict between adults, since at this age children, especially girls, are very sensitive to family relationships (as well as to the attitude of other people significant to them). The authority of the parent of the same sex is reduced due to emotionally unacceptable behavior for the child and the inability to stabilize the situation in the family.

Divorce of parents in children of older preschool age has a greater adverse effect on boys than on girls. The lack of influence of the father in the family or his absence can make it most difficult for boys to develop sex-appropriate communication skills with peers, cause self-doubt, a sense of powerlessness and doom in the face of danger, albeit imaginary, but filling consciousness. So, a 6-year-old boy from an incomplete family (his father left after a divorce) was terribly afraid of Zmey Gorynych. The presence of a constant imaginary threat indicates the absence of psychological protection, not formed due to the lack of adequate father influence. The boy does not have a defender who could kill the Serpent Gorynych, and from whom he could take an example, as from the fabulous Ilya Muromets.

Unjustified strictness, cruelty of the father in relations with children, physical punishment, ignoring spiritual needs and self-esteem also lead to fear. itself, but also leads to the emergence of lack of independence, dependence, helplessness, which are a breeding ground for the propagation of fears that inhibit activity and interfere with self-affirmation.

In the absence of identification with the mother, girls may also lose self-confidence. But unlike boys, they become more anxious than fearful. If, in addition, the girl cannot express love for her father, then cheerfulness decreases, and anxiety is supplemented by suspiciousness, which leads in adolescence to a depressive shade of mood, a feeling of worthlessness, uncertainty of feelings, desires.

At 5-7 years old, they are often afraid of terrible dreams and death in a dream. Moreover, the very fact of realizing death as an irreparable misfortune, the termination of life occurs most often in a dream: "I walked in the zoo, went to the lion's cage, and the cage was open, the lion rushed at me and ate" (a reflection associated with the fear of death, fears attacks and animals in a 6-year-old girl), "I was swallowed by a crocodile" (a 6-year-old boy). The symbol of death is the ubiquitous Baba Yaga, who chases children in a dream, catches them and throws them into the stove (in which the fear of fire, associated with the fear of death, is refracted). Often in a dream, children of this age may dream of separation from their parents, due to their fear disappearances and losses. Such a dream is ahead of the fear of the death of parents in primary school age. Thus, at 5-7 years old, dreams reproduce present, past (Baba Yaga) and future fears. Indirectly, this indicates the greatest saturation of the senior preschool age with fears. Terrible dreams also reflect the nature of the attitude of parents, adults to children.

The leading fear of senior preschool age is the fear of death. Its occurrence means the awareness of the irreversibility in space and time of the ongoing age-related changes. The child begins to understand that growing up at some stage marks death, the inevitability of which causes anxiety as an emotional rejection of the rational need to die. One way or another, the child feels for the first time that death is an inevitable fact of his biography. As a rule, children cope with such experiences themselves, but only if the family has a cheerful atmosphere, if the parents do not talk endlessly about illnesses, that someone has died and something can happen to him (the child) . If the child is already restless, then anxieties of this kind will only increase the age-related fear of death. The fear of death is a kind of moral and ethical category that indicates a certain maturity of feelings, their depth, and therefore is most pronounced in emotionally sensitive and impressionable children, who also have ability to abstract, abstract thinking. The fear of death is relatively more common in girls, which is associated with a more pronounced instinct of self-preservation in them, in comparison with boys. On the other hand, boys have a more tangible connection between the fear of death of themselves and, subsequently, parents with fears of strangers, unfamiliar faces, starting from 8 months of life, that is, a boy who is afraid of other people will be more prone to fear of death than a girl who does not have such a sharp oppositions. According to the correlation analysis, the fear of death is closely related to fears of attack, darkness, fairy-tale characters (more active at 3-5 years old), illness and death of parents (older age), terrible dreams, animals, elements, fire, fire and war. . The last 6 fears are most typical for senior preschool age. They, as previously listed, are motivated by a threat to life in a direct or indirect form. An attack by someone (including animals), as well as a disease, can result in irreparable misfortune, injury, death. The same applies to storm, hurricane, flood, earthquake, fire, conflagration and war as immediate threats to life. This justifies our definition of fear as an affectively sharpened self-preservation instinct. Under adverse life circumstances, the fear of death contributes to the strengthening of many fears associated with it. So, a 7-year-old girl after the death of her beloved hamster became whiny, touchy, stopped laughing, could not watch and listen to fairy tales, because she wept bitterly from pity for the heroes and could not calm down for a long time. The main thing was that she was terribly afraid of dying in her sleep, like a hamster, so she could not fall asleep alone, experiencing spasms in her throat from excitement, asthma attacks and frequent urges to go to the toilet. Remembering how her mother once said in her hearts: “It would be better for me to die,” the girl began to fear for her life. As we can see, the case with the hamster fell just at the age maximum of the fear of death, actualized it and led to an exorbitant growth in the imagination of an impressionable girl.

In other cases, we are faced with the child's fear of being late - for a visit, for kindergarten, etc. At the heart of the fear of being late, of not being in time, is an indefinite and anxious expectation of some kind of misfortune. Sometimes such fear acquires an obsessive, neurotic connotation when children torment their parents with endless questions-doubts like: “Will we be late?”, “Will we have time?”, “Will you come?”. Waiting intolerance is manifested in the fact that the child "burns out emotionally" before the onset of some specific, pre-planned event, for example, the arrival of guests, going to the cinema, etc. Most often, the obsessive fear of being late is inherent in boys with a high level of intellectual development, but with insufficiently expressed emotionality and spontaneity. They are taken care of a lot, controlled, regulated every step by not very young and anxiously suspicious parents. The obsessive fear of being late is a symptom of painfully sharpened and fatally insoluble inner restlessness, that is, neurotic anxiety, when the past frightens, the future worries, and the present worries and puzzles.

Indeed, the emotion of fear arises when something threatens us. A.I. Zakharov distinguishes two groups of fears that have a universal and at the same time fatal character in their outcome:

1. death
2. collapse of values.

In addition to extreme expressions, fear implies a person's experience of a real or imagined danger that has arisen. Understanding the essence of the danger and its clear awareness is formed in the process of life experience of a child or an adult.

In children, “suggested fears” are common. Their source is the adults surrounding the child, who involuntarily or deliberately incline the child to fear, indicating the presence of a real or imagined danger. The kid most often does not understand what threatens one or another of his actions, but he already clearly recognizes the alarm signal in the speech of adults, reflexively he has a reaction of fear. She is the regulator of his behavior. If the baby is constantly intimidated, then after a while he loses the spontaneity of his behavior, along with self-confidence. During this period, fears begin to multiply, and the child begins to show signs of anxiety, becomes capricious for no reason, his actions become constrained and cautious.

Instilled fears of the child include fears that arise in restless parents who are overprotective of their child. Conversations with a child about death, accidents and illnesses, fires, murders leave an imprint in his childish and vulnerable psyche.

As a result, the child begins to be frightened by a knock on the door or a slight rustle in the next room.

How to distinguish anxiety from fear?

We often hear the term "anxiety" in our lives. In emerging feelings such as fear and anxiety, there are common emotional components - these are feelings of anxiety and excitement.

Usually, anxiety is a state of anticipation of danger and a general state of anxiety. Very often, anxiety in children manifests itself in anticipation of events that cannot be predicted. And fear is called an emotionally sharpened reflection in the mind of a child of a specific threat. Thus, anxiety is an emotional feeling of an impending threat.

It should be understood that anxiety is not always a negatively expressed feeling; it can also manifest itself in a child in the form of joyful excitement or expectation of something pleasant.

Types of fears in children

In psychology, there are several types of fears that arise in children.:

situational fear a child may experience in an unusual and dangerous environment that shocks him.

Personally conditioned fear arises under the influence of the emerging character of the child. For example, under the influence of an adult, a child may become suspicious. Situational and personal fears always mix.

real fear and acute fear are determined by the specific life situation of the child. For example, a child is afraid of a vacuum cleaner because it makes noise.

imaginary fear and chronic fear - are predetermined by the characteristics of the child's personality. For example, a child is afraid of the dark because monsters live in it.

levels of fear

Psychologists identify several levels of fear that a child may have.:

Natural or age-related fear is short-term, easily correctable, often disappears with age. Age fears do not affect the value orientations of the child. Do not affect the formation of his character and behavior. Relationships with other people remain at the same level, characteristic of a certain age category in which the child is located. Some forms of emerging fear in children have a protective function, as they allow avoiding dangerous situations.

Pathological fear - characterized by extremely dramatic forms of expression. The child experiences genuine horror and emotional shock. Pathological fear is difficult to reverse and protracted. He is obsessive and involuntary. The child, in a situation of fear, on the part of consciousness completely lacks control of behavior. The consequence of the emergence of fears of this type is a distortion of the character of the child, a violation of interpersonal relationships and adaptations of the baby to social reality.

How does fear manifest itself in children?

Fear is so obvious that it can be detected immediately. For example, numbness, horror, crying, confusion, flight. Other fears of children can only be judged by indirect signs that may remain unnoticed for a long time.

The beginning of the emergence of fear and anxiety is the appearance of a feeling of anxiety in a child. With an acute sense of fear, the child speaks out of place, in a trembling voice. The look of the baby is usually absent, and the facial expression is frightened. The child's body becomes cold, the limbs become cold and wet. Breathing stops. The heartbeat quickens. The skin of the baby turns pale or becomes red, may be covered with spots.

Consequences of fear

The consequences of emerging fears in children are unpredictable. Sometimes the fears of babies grow so much in the psyche of the baby that they slow down its development. Children may experience the disappearance of positive emotions. Laughter and cheerfulness become inaccessible. Instead of positive emotions, emotional dissatisfaction, self-doubt develop, the child looks dejected.

But the most important thing is that a person who in childhood could not get rid of fears, becoming an adult, experiences great difficulties in establishing harmonious family relationships and will pass on his fears to his child.

Pathological fear leaves an imprint on the thinking of the baby. It becomes fast, chaotic in a state of anxiety. And with fear - lethargic, inhibited. The child's thinking loses its flexibility. The cognitive activity of the baby is rapidly decreasing, and curiosity and curiosity disappear. Children become initiativeless, which indicates the development of protective inhibition, which protects the psyche from emotional overload.

With constantly acting fear on the child, his emotional-volitional sphere is distorted. The attitudes of those around him are perceived inadequately.

Causes of anxiety in children

Domestic psychologists identify a number of reasons for the emergence of fears in children:

The child's low playing and motor activity, as well as the lack of collective game skills, contribute to the development of increased anxiety in children. The absence of emotional and noisy outdoor games in children impoverishes their emotional life. Play is the most natural way to correct fears. With strict parents who forbid him to play, the child worries for no reason for any reason. He does not know how to actively and confidently overcome life's difficulties.

Fear and anxiety in children cause neuropsychic overload experienced by the mother due to the emerging substitution of family roles. A mother who works a lot and dominates in family relationships is restless and irritable in relations with her children, she cannot devote the right amount of time to her child. In response to this, responses of anxiety and fear of babies are caused. The dominant mother in family relations also indicates the insufficient authority of the father, and this makes it much more difficult for sons to communicate with him.

In emotionally sensitive children, anxiety arises from the desire of mothers to start work and get out of parental leave as early as possible. They send babies to preschool institutions very early, to the care of their parents, nannies, and in fact do not take into account the emotional state of the baby.

Conflict relations between parents are one of the most obvious causes of pathological fears in a child. If the kids see that parents often scream, quarrel and are engaged in assault, then the number of fears in kids increases dramatically. Girls are more emotionally vulnerable to relationships in the family.

The number of fears that have arisen in children is greatly influenced by the composition of the family. In incomplete families, children have much more fears than children in complete families.

The only children in the family are more prone to fear than children with sisters and brothers. Increasing the number of children in the family helps to reduce fears. And the increase in the number of adults in children has the opposite effect. Since they replace the whole world for the child, imposing their own strict rules and creating an artificial development environment. Usually there is no place for peers, fun games, little secrets, pranks. This gives rise to a constant and persistent feeling of emotional dissatisfaction and anxiety in the child.

The age of the parents is also of no small importance for the emergence of fears in children. In young, cheerful parents, children are less prone to the emergence and manifestation of fears. And parents after 30-35 years old kids are often restless. Absorbing parents' anxiety from an early age, children very early begin to show signs of anxiety, which develops into infantilism, self-doubt.

But it should be remembered that most children go through a number of age periods of increased sensitivity to fears in their mental development. These fears are most often transient, but, unfortunately, they can awaken similar fears that are stored in the memory of parents.

Parents should be aware that most fears are transmitted to children completely unconsciously. And some fears that arose in a child are consciously nurtured by parents in the process of education. In general, mothers are more likely to transmit anxiety, worry, and fear to their children. And dads often instill in the child a suspicious way of responding to life situations. And this is the basis for the emergence of fears, fears, doubts in children.

What is your child afraid of? Can you find the reason for his fears? Do you know how to deal with them? If you have any questions, our consultants will provide you with qualified assistance and help your baby grow harmoniously, getting rid of fears.

Fears up to a year. Reflex (instinctive) reactions of newborns such as anxiety are known in response to a loud sound, a sharp change in position or loss of balance (support), as well as the approach of a large object. Further, noises and sudden changes in the environment cause reactions resembling fear. However, one can talk about fear itself, and not about anxiety reactions, not earlier than 6 months, since it requires a certain cognitive and perceptual development, including some anticipation of the danger already experienced once. S. Freud (1926) connected anxiety (anxiety) in the second half of the first year of life with the danger of separation from the object (mother) as a source of support, emphasizing its further influence on some fears, including the fear of loneliness. Fear of the child 8 months. in response to the appearance of unfamiliar faces, it is simultaneously regarded as a sign of the absence of the mother.

Indeed, as our observations show, some reflex reactions of anxiety such as startle or numbness at a sharp sound, a sudden change in position are already inherent in newborns.

From 1.5 months anxiety reactions are possible in response to a sufficiently long departure of the mother or a noisy environment in the family. By 3 months the child is calmer at home and only with those adults who love children, talk to them and admire them, that is, behave like a mother. The mother's anxiety is also easily transmitted, if she is in a hurry, she is worried, as her usual way of acting and behavior is changing. Like no other family member, the mother is able to calm the child with a gentle, affectionate voice, stroking, rocking. After 6 months the child is not immediately frightened by an unexpected impact from the outside, a loud sound and does not cry, as before, but looks at the expression on the mother's face, as if testing her reaction. If she smiles, making it clear that nothing happened, everything is fine, then the child quickly calms down. If the mother is instead frightened herself, then a similar reaction spreads to the child, increasing his feelings of anxiety. Thus, the reaction of the mother is the child's primary response to danger.

Anxiety experienced by children at 7 and 8 months. life, can be designated respectively as the initial state of anxiety and fear. Anxiety at 7 months - this is anxiety in response to the departure of the mother, interruption of contact, lack of support, i.e., a reaction to the rupture of group, based on attachment, relationships. The feeling of loneliness that arises in this case gives rise to the expectation of the return of the mother (close person), which, under adverse conditions, can be fixed in life experience, being a model or prototype of the state of anxiety. The latter, in turn, motivates the development of fears of alienation, rejection, non-recognition and misunderstanding that are social in origin. The presence of such a relationship does not exclude other ways of forming these fears that can manifest themselves in emotionally sensitive children and children with a developed sense of responsibility at an older age.

Fear of strangers, strangers, strangers at 8 months. - this is a manifestation of fear itself as a state of passion in response to a specific external threat for the child. Emotionally sharpened rejection of adults different from the mother and frightening the child is subsequently transformed into threatening images of cruel, soulless and insidious fairy-tale monsters like Baba Yaga, Koshchei, Barmaley, etc. All of them are capable of taking life, causing irreparable damage, mutilation, which is a sharp contrast to the mother who gives life, love, understanding and support.

preschool age. The study of fears in children under 3 years of age was carried out through additional interviews with 85 mothers.

Fear of strangers, strangers, decreasing in the second year of life, is not always manifested by a specific fear of some people (in 50%), whether they are ridiculously behaving adults or non-existent uncles and aunts who are able to punish, or even take naughty children out of the house. When meeting with real strangers, a child in the middle of the second year of life experiences some embarrassment, timidity and shyness, which, however, quickly passes. Expressed in 1 year and the fear of doctors - in 40% of children. This is not only a fear of strangers, but also a fear of pain as a result of unpleasant medical manipulations. The same number of children are afraid of injections. In 50% of children, fear is expressed at unexpected, loud sounds.

Every third child can talk about the anxiety of children when they are left alone (fear of loneliness), which indicates increased emotional sensitivity and attachment to parents.

One of the early expressions of the instinct of self-preservation will be a soft-sounding, inconsistent fear of heights found in a relative minority of children at the beginning of the second year of life (when picking up a child), similar to the fear of depth (when bathing) at the age of up to 1 year.

At 2 years old, the fear of loneliness begins to pass faster in boys, while in girls it remains at the same level. The most common fear at this age is the fear of punishment from parents (61% for boys and 43% for girls). It is due to the increased activity of children and prohibitions on the part of adults. If the fear of the dark remains relatively mild at 2 years (as it was at 1 year), then the fear of trains, planes (moving traffic) increases, reflecting self-preservation-based and parental fears of damage, unexpected exposure and pain. The fear of animals also develops, especially in girls - 43%, in boys - 22%. The fairy-tale image of the Wolf has the maximum threatening value at this age after reading fairy tales (“Little Red Riding Hood”), watching cartoons and stories told in the family. In the image of the Wolf, various fears of two-year-old children are embodied: a sudden and hardly predictable impact (attack), pain (bite with sharp teeth) and even in an allegorical form, the fear of punishment from the father, if he is too strict and often threatens to use physical force. Wolf fear is also more common in children deprived of communication with a father who is also not able to be a clear example of self-confident behavior and protection from imaginary dangers. Often, in the child's imagination, the Wolf "realizes his plans" during sleep, which is accompanied by motor disinhibition, screams, awakening, i.e., nighttime anxiety or fears.

So, typical age-related fears in children of both sexes 1-3 years old will be: at 1 year old - fears of loneliness, unfamiliar adults, doctors (medical workers), injections and unexpected sharp sounds (noise); at 2 years - fears of punishment, animals and injections.

There are relatively fewer fears and they quickly fade away if the father dominates in the family, the parents do not wage a “war” with stubbornness, that is, the independence of children, they develop, rather than suppress or drown out with anxiety, their emerging “I”, if the parents themselves are sure in themselves and are able to help the child overcome imaginary and real dangers.

Junior preschool age. Starting from this age, data on fears were obtained from direct interviews with children. At the age of 3, in boys, fears of fairy tale characters (50%), heights (40%), blood (43%), injections (50%), pain (47%) and unexpected sounds (43%) are most often presented in comparison with the subsequent age. ). A number of other fears, despite their lesser severity, reach a maximum in boys precisely at the age under consideration: at 3 years - darkness (33%); closed and open space (27 and 20% respectively), water (27%), doctors (23%); at 4 years old - loneliness (31%) and transport (22%).

In girls, the fears common with boys reach the age maximum: at 3 years - loneliness (33%), darkness (37%), pain (40%), injections (41%), at 3 and 4 years - blood (27% in both ages). It does not reach the maximum, but the fear of closed space is quite pronounced at 4 years (21%).

The interview data for the entire studied age of 3-16 years were processed on a computer using the pairwise correlation coefficients Q and F and factor analysis. The greatest number of interrelations between fears is noted in the considered younger preschool age, in which there are the most bilateral connections (coefficient F). The maximum density of connections between fears is manifested against the background of pronounced emotional development at a given age. As the intensity of cognitive (cognitive) development increases in the older preschool age, the number of connections between fears begins to decrease, reaching a minimum in adolescence. For the entire preschool age, the average number of connections is significantly higher (20.5) than in the school age (15.0), and is more represented among girls.

At a younger preschool age, the fear of loneliness, based on a diffuse feeling of anxiety or anxiety, is concretized by the fear of attack, embodied in the face of scary fairy-tale characters. The decoding of this combination of fears is as follows: the child, left alone, without the support of his parents, experiences a sense of danger and an instinctive fear of fairy-tale characters threatening his life.

An additional survey of 326 preschool children in order to identify fears of fairy-tale characters showed that boys at the age of 3 are most often afraid of Baba Yaga (34%), Koshchei (28%) and Barmaley (34%). Girls, respectively, are more often afraid of the same characters at the age of 4 - at 50, 42 and 47%. At the age of 4, 33% of boys and 39% of girls expressed fear of the Wolf. All these fabulous images to a certain extent can reflect the fear of punishment or alienation of parents from children with a lack of feelings of love, pity and sympathy, which are so essential at this age. Then Baba Yaga can be involuntarily associated with the mother, and the Wolf, Barmaley and Koschey with the father, as can be seen from the following statements of a 3-year-old boy: “Why are you, mother, swearing at me like Baba Yaga?” and “Mom, won’t you become Baba Yaga?”. Usually, children quite actively manipulate fairy-tale images in the game, depicting Baba Yaga, the Wolf, Barmaley and the whole range of aggressive actions associated with them. With the participation of parents, especially the father, in the games, such fears quickly disappear if the child distributes the roles himself. A positive effect is also observed from independent, but prompted by adults, drawing various, still difficult to distinguish on paper, but nevertheless real monsters in the minds of children. Fears are overcome faster with adequate support from parents, the absence of fears and anxiety, conflicts in the family and deviations in education.

It should also be said about the triad of fears that we have identified typical for this age: loneliness, darkness and confined space. In this case, the child is not left alone when falling asleep, he constantly calls his mother, the light (night light) should be on in the room, and it is necessary that the door be half open. Anxiety can also manifest itself in connection with the expectation of terrible (nightmare) dreams. Here, much depends on the ability of parents not to create an unnecessary problem out of these age-related fears, to calm the children in time, to gently talk to them and not to insist on the immediate fulfillment of their requirements, regardless of their experiences.

senior preschool age. This is the age of the greatest manifestation of fears, which is due not so much to emotional as to cognitive development - an increased understanding of danger. The central place is occupied by the fear of death, which is most pronounced in boys at the age of 7. Increases in senior preschool age, not yet reaching a maximum, the fear of death of parents.

The fear of animals is maximally represented (42 and 38% - at 6 and 7 years old in boys and 62% - in girls of 7 years old), from fairy tales - Zmeya Gorynych at 5 years old and at 3 years old in boys (in 27% of each age), in 6 years - in girls (45.5%).

Of the other fears typical of age, it should be noted the fear of depth - in boys of 6 and 7 years old (47%), in girls of 7 years old (65%); nightmares - in boys of 6 years (39%), in girls at 5 (43%), 6 (43%) and 7 years (42%); fear of fire - in boys at 6 years old (39%), in girls at 5 (55%), 6 (56%), 7 (56%) and 9 years old (54%).

Increases in senior preschool age, remaining at a high level in the future, the fear of fire at 6 and 7 years old in boys (59% and 62%) and at 6 and 7 years old in girls (79%); fear of attack - at 6 and 7 years old in boys (50%) and at 7 years old in girls (73%); fear of war - at 6 and 7 years old in boys (59% and 50%), at 7 years old in girls (92%).

Unlike boys, girls at the age under consideration emphasized fears of getting sick at 7 years old (46%), punishment at 7 years old (37%), before falling asleep at 5-8 years old (16-17%) and fairy-tale characters in general at 5 years old. (65%).

The connecting link of fears in older preschoolers will be the fear of death. According to the correlation analysis, it is closely associated with fears of attack, illness, death of parents, nightmares, darkness, fairy-tale characters, animals, elements, fire, fire and war. All these fears are motivated by a threat to life, if not direct, then connected with the death of parents, the appearance of monsters in the dark and dreams. An attack by someone (including animals), as well as a disease, can result in irreparable misfortune, injury, death. The same applies to storm, hurricane, flood, earthquake, fire, conflagration and war as immediate threats to life.

At senior preschool age, questions often arise like: “how many years did your dad, mom live?”, “Why do people live?”, “Where did everything come from?” and spells: “I don’t want to be an old woman, but I want to be a girl all the time,” etc. Such phrases speak of the development of abstract thinking, the ability to generalize, anticipate events, and understand the categories of time and space. The emergence of fear of death means the realization of the irreversibility of the ongoing age-related changes. The child begins to understand that growing up at some stage marks death, the inevitability of which causes anxiety as an emotional rejection of the rational need to die. The upcoming “end” is preceded by the awareness of the “beginning” in the younger preschool age - the understanding of one's birth, the birth, the beginning of all beginnings - life.

Fear of death is more common in children who are found at 8 months. fears of unfamiliar faces, as well as some caution and foresight when starting to walk. In the future, you do not need to hide matches from them, because they are afraid (fear) of fire and fire. Attention is drawn to the fear of heights in preschool age. These children do not move down the hill, they quickly learn precautions, for example, do not approach an open window, do not stand on the edge of a cliff, etc. All this is a manifestation of the self-preservation instinct, which is aggravated in physically, somatically and nervously weakened children. The same is said by fears of attack, illness, death of parents, terrible dreams, elements, fire, fire and war. They are associated with the fear of death in the entire age range of 3-16 years, both in boys and girls.

The fear of death at a younger preschool age personifies the already mentioned fear of Baba Yaga and Koshchei. The necrophilic, life-opposing nature of these characters, who threaten to separate the child from the mother or deal with him, the bearers of evil and cruelty, contrasts with the life-affirming, creative and good beginning in a person embodied in the face of mother and father. In older preschool age, a threat to life is associated with such a fairy-tale character as the Serpent Gorynych. Fear of him, rising from the depths of the subconscious, suddenly takes possession of the child's imagination, identifying, as in ancient times, with kidnapping, with fire and fire that incinerates everything around. And outside of this, the fears of fire and fire get their development in the older preschool age, being one of the manifestations of the fear of death. The fears of the Wolf in the younger preschool age and the Crocodile in the older preschool age can also indirectly speak about the latter.

At primary school age, the image of Baba Yaga is transformed into the image of the Queen of Spades, the fear of the fatal, fatalistic meaning of which is most represented in girls who tell each other the “terrible” details of her unprecedented, chilling abilities. For boys, the skeleton has a similar meaning - all that remains of Koshchei the Immortal, who thus became mortal. They also expressed the fear of the Black Hand - the omnipresent hand of a dead man, associated with the black Koshchei, dried up from anger, stinginess, envy and gloating. Starting from senior preschool age, boys and girls also have a fear of devils (in 22%) as representatives of the other world, violators of social rules and established foundations. At primary school age and at the beginning of adolescence, against the background of increased suggestibility, reaching a maximum at 10 years old, fears of the dead, the Ghoul, Viy, the Dragon, the Headless Horseman, space aliens, robots, etc. appear. For the most part, such characters affect the imagination children at bedtime and during it after reading books, watching movies, peer stories. Thus, the time before falling asleep, darkness and sleep form a kind of closed psychological space inhabited by emotionally sensitive and impressionable children with frightening images from a world opposed to life.

The noted features in the origin of the fear of death and its influence on other fears make it possible to correctly assess the psychological weight of this basic fear, preventing both its overestimation and ignoring the age-related developmental problems caused by it.

Junior school age. Further growth of self-consciousness at this age is associated primarily with the new social position of the student. The social activity of the individual is manifested by the formation of a sense of responsibility, duty, obligation, all that is united by the concept of "conscience" as a set of moral, ethical, moral foundations of the individual. The experience of one's compliance with group (collective) standards, rules, norms of behavior is accompanied by a pronounced sense of guilt in case of imaginary or real deviations, which, however, is already becoming noticeable even in older preschool age. Therefore, despite the overall decrease in the number of fears, one of the leading fears at this age will be the fear of being late for school (68% for boys at 10 years old; 91 and 92% for girls at 8 and 9 years old). In a broader sense, the fear of being late means not being on time, the fear of being blamed, of doing something wrong, as it should be, as it is customary. The greater severity of this fear in girls is not accidental, since they accept social norms earlier than boys, are more prone to feelings of guilt, and perceive deviations of their behavior from generally accepted norms more critically (fundamentally). The sociocentric orientation of the personality, the increased sense of responsibility is also manifested in the growing fear of the death of parents (in 98% of boys and 97% of girls at 9 years old). Accordingly, the "egocentric" fear of death of oneself, while still being relatively pronounced in boys, noticeably decreases in girls. The fears of attack, fire and war associated with the fear of death are expressed as intensely as in older preschool age.

The specificity of fears among younger students is also due to the development of the so-called magical mood - faith (and fear arising from it) in unlucky numbers, days, a black cat, the Queen of Spades, etc. More broadly, this is the fear of misfortune, misfortune, fatal (fatalistic) coincidence of circumstances, i.e. everything that then develops in fears of fate, fate, mysterious phenomena, predictions, including the position of stars in the sky, etc. Such fears, fears, premonitions are a reflection of emerging anxiety, suspiciousness, as and suggestibility typical of primary school age.

Teenage years. The leading fears at this age are the fears of the death of parents in almost all boys (by the age of 15 and all girls by the 12th year of life) and the fear of war (90% - at 13 years old for boys and 91% - at 12 years old for girls ). Both fears are closely related, since war carries a real threat of the death of parents. Another group of pronounced and again interconnected fears is the fear of one's own death (63% - at 13 years old for boys and 70% - at 11 years old for girls), attacks (54% - at 13 years old for boys and 70% - at 11 years old). in girls), fire (52% - at 10 years old for boys, 80 and 79% - at 10 and 11 years old for girls). Thus, starting from senior preschool age, most children are afraid of their own death and the death of their parents, attacks, fire and war. In boys in adolescence, the fear of getting sick (as well as getting infected - in 39% at 13 years old) reaches its maximum severity; in girls - fears of the elements (in 52 and 50% at 11 and 12 years old), heights (in 45% at 14 years old) and enclosed space (in 35% at 14 years old). They do not reach a maximum at this age, but the fears of animals (in 51% at 14 years), depth (in 50% at 11 years) and being late (in 70% at 10 and 11 years) are quite pronounced in girls.

In girls, adolescence is more filled with fears than in boys, reflecting their greater propensity for fears in general. Nevertheless, the average number of all fears both in them and in boys noticeably decreases in adolescence and primary school age compared with preschool age.

Noteworthy are the data of factor analysis of fears for the entire studied age from 3 to 16 years. In the factor with the highest weight (61% in boys and girls), the maximum factor loads are in the fear of falling asleep and the fear of the dark. The universal nature of these fears is obvious, which are a kind of background or condition for the manifestation of other fears, including fairy-tale characters and monsters.

Earlier, we gave the definition of fear as an affectively sharpened perception of a threat to life, well-being and well-being of a person. The perception of a threat to life is based primarily on the instinct of self-preservation, and the threat to well-being is based on the social experience of interpersonal relationships. The threat to well-being is based both on the instinct of self-preservation and on social experience. It is conditionally possible to note the predominance in preschool age of fears emanating from the instinct of self-preservation (the so-called "natural" fears), while in adolescence the proportion of social, interpersonal fears in nature increases. The younger school age is thus transitional in relation to these two types of fears.

In order to more fully identify interpersonally conditioned fears, additional interviews were conducted with 620 adolescents aged 10-16 years. The questionnaire of 176 statements covered a wide range of questions related not only to fears, but also to fears, anxiety, emotional sensitivity, relationships in the family, among peers, interests, etc. imaginary joint performance of a public assignment, and when celebrating a birthday.

"Natural" fears (30 items) included fears of getting sick, death of oneself and parents, fairy tale characters, before falling asleep, darkness, animals, moving vehicles, elements, heights, depths, water, enclosed space, fire, fire, blood, injections, pain , doctors, unexpected sounds, etc. Interpersonal fears (51 points) are fears of loneliness, some people, punishment, war, doing something wrong, not that, not being in time, being late, not coping with the assigned task, not cope with feelings, lose control, be not yourself, ridicule, condemnation from peers and adults, etc.

As expected, "natural" fears are maximally expressed at the age of 10 in boys and girls (in boys also at 11 years). Interpersonal fears, on the contrary, reach their maximum at the age of 15 in boys and girls. We see a kind of intersection of the considered fears in adolescence, a decrease in "natural" - instinctive in its basis and an increase in "social" - interpersonally conditioned. Compared to boys, girls have more not only “natural” fears, as mentioned earlier, but also “social” ones. This not only confirms the greater timidity of girls, but also indicates a more pronounced anxiety in them compared to boys, since the anxious register of personal response predominates in “social” fears. To clarify these data, a specially developed scale of anxiety was used, consisting of 17 statements such as: “Do you often feel anxious about any upcoming events?”; “Does it bother you that you are somehow different from your peers?”; “Does the future worry you with its uncertainty and uncertainty?”; “Is it difficult for you to endure the expectation of control and answers?”; “Do you often get short of breath from excitement, have a lump in your throat, trembling in your body, or red spots on your face?”; "Do you tend to get ready before most of your peers?" etc. It turned out that anxiety, like “social” fears, reaches its maximum in boys and girls at the age of 15, i.e., by the end of adolescence, and anxiety in girls is significantly higher than in boys. The growth of "social" fears, as well as anxiety, is one of the criteria for the formation of personality self-awareness in adolescents, increasing sensitivity in the field of interpersonal relations.

Separately, the age dynamics of a mixed, but with a predominantly social connotation, fear of “not being yourself” is considered. After a slight decrease at the age of 11, it increases up to 14 years in girls (peak at 13 years - 65%) and continuously - up to 16 years in boys (peak at 15 years - 83%), emphasizing the need for self-actualization expressed in adolescents, preserving the originality of personality , its uniqueness and originality.

It should be noted that at the age of 12, boys showed the lowest scores on such scales of the considered questionnaire as “emotional sensitivity”, “natural” and “social” fears. Girls have the least expressed fear of death at the same age. The decrease in emotional sensitivity and the resulting decrease in the number of fears, especially in boys, is explained by the onset of puberty and its characteristic sharpening of excitability, negativity and aggressiveness. The latter is confirmed by another specially directed survey of 800 schoolchildren aged 7-16. Consequently, the more pronounced the level of aggressiveness, the less fears, and, conversely, the more fears, the less the ability to cause physical and often moral damage to others.

According to the correlation analysis, the lack of emotionally warm, direct relationships with parents in younger adolescents or conflict relations with them in older adolescents significantly affect the increase in fears, primarily in the sphere of interpersonal relationships. More fears, especially in older teenagers, and when parents conflict with each other. With low mutual understanding between parents, girls react more than boys with an increase in fears, i.e. alienated relationships in the family are perceived by girls more traumatizing and often contribute, moreover, to a decrease in mood. Thus, interpersonal tension and low mutual understanding in the family increase the number of fears in adolescents, similar to how it happens in older preschool age. In turn, a large number of fears lowers self-confidence, without which adequate self-esteem, personal integration and self-acceptance, the implementation of plans and full communication with peers are impossible. This is confirmed by the sociometric survey data. With a significant number of fears, there is an unfavorable position of the adolescent in the team, a small number of choices on the part of peers, especially of the same sex, that is, a low sociometric status.