Scared but loving it: Children's enjoyment of fear as a diagnostic marker of anxiety?

Abstract

Childhood fears of objects and events such as spiders, monsters and earthquakes are common, universal and sometimes distressing. At the same time, many children seem to enjoy the thrill of scary ghost stories, ghoulish films, and terrifying theme park rides. It is estimated that around 18% of children are excessively fearful. Although anxiety disorders represent the most common psychopathology in childhood, identification can be difficult because of the diagnostic overlap and co-morbidity of anxiety with other childhood disorders. The present study investigated enjoyment of fear as a potential diagnostic marker of childhood anxiety in a sample of 220 children aged 6-12 years and their parents. Many children reportedly enjoyed scary experiences, with boys and older children displaying greater enjoyment. Children whose parents rated them as excessively anxious experienced significantly less enjoyment of fear. The paper considers possible explanations for this finding and concludes that failure to enjoy scary activities may represent a useful diagnostic marker in the initial identification of childhood anxiety.