Assessing fears and related anxieties in children

and adolescents with learning disabilities or

mild mental retardation

Huijun Li a,*, Richard J. Morris b

a Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems, Florida State University,

307 Stone Building, College of Education, Tallahassee, FL 32306-4453, United Statesb Department of Special Education, Rehabilitation, and School Psychology,

University of Arizona, AZ, United States

Received 17 February 2006; received in revised form 12 June 2006; accepted 14 June 2006

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to examine self-reported fears and related anxieties in children and

adolescents (7–18 years of age) having learning disabilities (LD) or mild mental retardation (MIMR), and

whether these fears and related anxieties differ based on gender and age. Students responded to two well

validated instruments, The Fear Survey Schedule for Children-Revised and Revised Children’s Manifest

Anxiety Scale. The results revealed age, gender, and disability interaction effects. Adolescent boys having

mild mental retardation reported highest levels of fear related to failure and criticism, a finding that was

different from those reported in previous studies. In addition, girls reported higher levels than boys of total

fear, fears related to minor injury and small animals, and worry/oversensitivity. Age main effects were also

observed where younger students from both the LD and the MIMR groups reported higher levels of non-

specific general anxiety. Implications and directions for future research were presented.

# 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Fears; Anxieties; Learning disability; Mild mental retardation; Children; Adolescent

Fears are viewed as normal reactions to a specific environmental threat, either real or

perceived, such as darkness, lightning, deep water, tombs, or spiders. Researchers have suggested

that normal fears are essential for people to survive in the world, with such fears having a

protective function for children (e.g., Morris & Kratochwill, 1983, 1998). According to Barrios

and Hartmann (1997), anxieties are a broad collection of distressing subjective, motoric, and

Research in Developmental Disabilities 28 (2007) 445–457

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 850 644 3064; fax: +1 850 644 8776.

E-mail address: hli@coe.fsu.edu (H. Li).

0891-4222/$ – see front matter # 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2006.06.001

somatic responses. Anxieties are also described as apprehension without apparent cause, and

they can be distinguished from fears based on the specificity of the threatening stimuli and

accompanying responses (Coleman, 1996). In spite of researchers’ attempt to differentiate the

two concepts,‘‘fears’’ and ‘‘anxieties’’ are often used interchangeably in the literature (Morris &

Kratochwill, 1998).

Researchers have found gender differences in children’s fears and related anxieties, with

females reporting higher prevalence and intensity of fears and anxieties than males (American

Psychiatric Association, 2000; Beidel, Turner, Hamlin, & Morris, 2000; Dong, Yang, &

Ollendick, 1994; Ollendick & King, 1991). Such differences appear to persist across a variety of

assessment instruments, like the Revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS; Reynolds

& Richmond, 1997), Fear Survey Schedule for Children-Revised (FSSC-R; Ollendick, 1983), and

Revised Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS; Chorpita, Daleiden, Moffitt, Yim, & Umemoto,

2000).

Moreover, the nature and content of children’s fears and related anxieties appear to change as

children mature, although some overlap occurs across ages (Morris & Kratochwill, 1983, 1998;

Ollendick, Matson, & Helsel, 1985). For example, children of elementary school age are

reportedly fearful of supernatural beings, bodily injury, and loud noises. In addition, they are

increasingly sensitive to and fearful of failure in social situations and in their academic

performance. As children enter middle school and high school, social, academic, and health-

related fears become predominant, and these fears may continue to exist into adulthood (Barrios

& Hartmann, 1997; Morris & Kratochwill, 1983, 1998).

Although considerable efforts have been directed towards the understanding of fears and related

anxieties amongst children and adolescents without disabilities, far less is known about the levels

and nature of fears and related anxieties in young people having disabilities. Depending on the

specific disability category under investigation, there are some differences in adjustment and

outcome status, but a substantial body of evidence supports the claim that children and youth with

learning disabilities (LD) and mild mental retardation (MIMR) are at heightened risk for

experiencing emotional difficulties and manifesting higher levels of fears and anxieties than their

typical (or regular education) peers (Al-Yagon & Mikulincer, 2004; Pearl & Bay, 1999). To further

illustrate, almost three million children (ages 6–21 years) have some form of a learning disability

and receive special education in schools (Twenty-Fourth Annual Report to Congress, U.S.

Department of Education, 2002). In addition, the Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities

(2001) reported that 40% of those students having LD reportedly experience anxiety to a marked

degree. Some researchers have even suggested that this increase in emotional difficulties in students

having LD is due to the increased frustration and failure that these children experience in academic

and social activities (e.g., Fisher, Allen, & Kose, 1996; Tur-Kaspa, Weisel, & Segev, 1998).

Furthermore, their anxieties may be manifested by psychophysiological changes, such as stomach

discomfort and headaches (e.g., Margalit & Raviv, 1984; Thomas, 1979).

Nearly 613,000 children between 6 and 21 years of age have been diagnosed as having some

level of mental retardation and determined to be in need of special education services in the

schools (Twenty-Fourth Annual Report to Congress, U.S. Department of Education, 2002). Of

these latter youth, approximately 87% will be classified as having mild mental retardation. In this

regard, researchers have found that at the same chronological age children having MIMR exhibit

patterns of fears similar to those of younger children who are not disabled (e.g., Duff et al., 1981;

Vandenberg, 1993). Such fears include fear of thunder, lightning, and being kidnapped, whereas

the typical children are more afraid of such abstract concerns as criticism and failure (Knapp,

Barrett, Groden, & Groden, 1992).

H. Li, R.J. Morris / Research in Developmental Disabilities 28 (2007) 445–457446

Research on the level and nature of fears and related anxieties would be strengthened when

conducting between-group comparisons of children and adolescents receiving special education

services under different disability categories. LD and MIMR are both high incidence disabilities.

Research has shown that students with LD and students with MIMR exhibit similar deficit skills

in areas such as social skills, time on task, academic, and interaction with peers (Margalit & Roth,

1989; Moore & Simpson, 1983; O’Sullivan, Ysseldyke, Christenson, & Thurlow, 1990; Sabornie,

Evans, & Cullinan, 2006). When assigning to behavioral and instruction programs, they also

share the same teachers and psychological staff and professionals (Sabornie et al.). Nevertheless,

specific problem areas for students with LD or MIMR were also found. For example, in addition

to IQ deficits, students with MIMR were given less teacher attention and rated themselves as

having low post-school status. Students with LD had greater deficits in reading.

Existing studies have focused on comparing academic and social skills between students with

LD and students with MIMR. Since students with LD or students with MIMR share many similar

characteristics, it is possible that these two groups of students also manifest similar fears and

related anxieties. On the other hand, since disability types are associated with differences in

children’s cognitive abilities and academic, social, and behavioral skills, it is also possible that

differences exist in the area of fears and related anxieties. In this regard, very few studies have

investigated and compared manifestations of fears and related anxieties in students with LD or

MIMR. Such comparison would provide information regarding whether students with LD or

MIMR share similar or different levels and nature of fears and related anxieties. Such

comparisons could inform school psychologists, counsellors, and teachers about whether similar

prevention and intervention strategies may be warranted with these students. The purpose,

therefore of the present study, was to investigate self-reported fears and related anxieties in

children and adolescents having LD or MIMR in order for psychological professionals,

educators, and parents to better understand the psychological functioning of these students and to

determine if necessary accommodations need to be made in the respective curriculum of these

students. Specifically, this study examined whether there were differences in the self-reported

fears and anxieties in students with LD or MIMR and whether these differences were related to

age and/or gender.

1. Method

1.1. Participants

The participants included students from 1st to 12th grade in a large city in Arizona. With the

approval from the university’s Human Subjects Research Committee, the first author obtained

approval from the Research and Accountability Office of the local school district. With both

approval letters, endorsement of school principals, and permission from resource room teachers

for LD students and teachers for students with MIMR, parent consent forms and child assent

forms were sent home via students and collected by classroom teachers. Each student participant

was diagnosed as having either LD or MIMR in accordance with existing state education

department definitions. The following criteria were used for the selection of participants: (1)

students with LD had an IQ score of 95 or above and students with MIMR had an IQ score

between 55 and 70; (2) based on teacher and parent reports, each participant had only one type of

disability, either LD or MIMR; and (3) no student was receiving psychological or psychiatric

services for depression, anxiety, or other related emotional or behavior disorders at the time that

they were recruited for the study. As the purpose of this study was to examine the fears and related

H. Li, R.J. Morris / Research in Developmental Disabilities 28 (2007) 445–457 447

anxieties in children and adolescents with LD in general, the subtypes of LD were not delineated.

All participants were attending regular education public schools, with the students having LD

receiving resource services for reading, writing, math, and/or science, while students with MIMR

were in self-contained classrooms where they were taught academic, life, and social skills.

The sample consisted of 200 students, 131 in the LD group and 69 in the MIMR group, with

42% being females (N = 84) and 58% males (N = 116). Ages ranged from 7 to 18 years of age

(M = 12.18, S.D. = 3.01). In terms of ethnicity, 75% were Hispanic, 24.5% Euro-American, 2%

African-American, and, 0.5% Asian. The ethnic composition of the participants was

representative of the percentage breakdown of these ethnic groups in the general student

population in the school district. In order to examine developmental changes, participants were

divided into three age groups, corresponding to the age cutoff category for elementary, middle,

and high school in this region: 7–10 years of age (N = 52 students), 11–13 years of age (N = 81

students), and 14–18 years of age (N = 67 students) (see Table 1). A three-way contingency

table analysis using Crosstabs was conducted to examine if the observed and expected

frequencies of age and gender across disability groups differed by chance and not because there

was a relationship among them. The results showed no evidence that the age and gender

distributed differently across the LD group (x2 = 0.66, p = 0.72) and the MIMR group

(x2 = 0.05, p = 0.82).

1.2. Assessment instrument

1.2.1. The Fear Survey Schedule for Children-Revised

The FSSC-R (Ollendick, 1983) measures specific fears in the categories of school, home,

social, physical, animal, travel, and miscellaneous. It is an 80-item fear schedule for children and

adolescents in which respondents indicate their level of fear to each of the 80 stimulus items using

a three-point scale (‘‘None,’’ ‘‘Some,’’ or ‘‘A Lot’’). The FSSC-R five-factor solution based on

factor analysis has been reported for the schedule: fear of failure and criticism, fear of the

unknown, fear of minor injury and small animals, fear of danger and death, and medical fears

(Ollendick, King, & Frary, 1989). FSSC-R has strong psychometric data. Ollendick (1983) found

that FSSC-R possesses high internal consistency ranging from 0.92 to 0.95. Internal consistency

coefficients with the current sample ranged from 0.73 to 0.97 (total fear a = 0.96, fear of failure

and criticism a = 0.86, fear of the unknown a = 0.86, fear of small animals and minor injury

a = 0.89, fear of danger and death a = 0.89, medical fears a = 0.73).

1.2.2. Revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale

The RCMAS (Reynolds & Richmond, 1997) is a normed assessment instrument for children

and adolescents and it consists of 37 ‘‘Yes’’ or ‘‘No’’ items. The RCMAS is also known as the

‘‘What I Think and Feel Scale,’’ and it was designed to assess the presence of generalized and

H. Li, R.J. Morris / Research in Developmental Disabilities 28 (2007) 445–457448

Table 1

Age and gender distribution across disability types

Disability type Gender Age groups (years) Total

Female Male 7–10 11–13 14–18

LD 56 75 31 58 42 131

MIMR 28 41 21 23 25 69

Both groups 84 116 52 81 67 200

non-specific/non-situational anxiety (i.e., trait anxiety). The RCMAS yields total anxiety score,

lie scale score, physiological anxiety, worry/oversensitivity, and concentration. The total

coefficients of congruence across ethnic and gender groups range from 0.96 to 0.99. Concurrent

and construct validity studies of RCMAS indicate correlations ranging from 0.78 to 0.85 between

the RCMAS and the A-Trait scale of STAIC (Crowley & Emerson, 1996). The current sample

yielded reasonable internal consistency coefficients from 0.67 to 0.88 (total anxiety a = 0.88,

concentration a = 0.73, worry/oversensitivity a = 0.78, physiological anxiety a = 0.69).

Fears and related anxieties are often used interchangeably as if they referred to the same

construct. In order to explore if the two questionnaires are measuring the same or different

constructs, Pearson product moment correlations were calculated among the subscales of the two

questionnaires. Low to moderate correlations were found across the subscales of the two

instruments, ranging from 0.25 to 0.59, which indicates that the two instruments may measure

similar but not the same constructs. Thus, both instruments were used in this study to better

measure children’s fears and related anxieties.

Consistent with procedural modifications reported by Matson, Manikam, Heinze, and

Kapperman (1986) and Ramirez and Kratochwill (1990), some adaptations were made in the

administration of the FSSC-R and RCMAS to accommodate the nature of participants’ disability.

For example, in the case of students with MIMR and younger students with LD (7–10 years of

age), each item or question was read out loud to the students in a small group format (2–3

students). A picture system, indicating ‘‘None,’’ ‘‘Some,’’ and ‘‘A Lot’’, was used in facilitating

students to choose the best answer to each item. Students with LD above age 10 years were

administered the two instruments following the standardized instructions in group formats (6–9

members in a group), students responded as each item was read aloud by the classroom teacher.

Many researchers indicate that students with LD tend to have superior oral language

communication skills and they can understand better the content conveyed to them through

spoken language (Kupersmith, 1990; Sills, 1995). The first author monitored the children’s

comprehension of the questions and level of attention and fatigue at assessment sessions. All

students were provided with time and opportunity to clarify items so that they were able to

understand each item and make the most appropriate choice. Group format has been used to

administer the two instruments in different studies (Dong et al., 1994; Gullone & King, 1992,

1993; Shore & Rapport, 1998).

2. Results

Disability, age, and gender differences based on student self-report were assessed in relation to

the following dependent measures: total fears, type/content of fears, 10 most common fears, total

anxiety score, and type/content of anxiety.

2.1. Total fears

Total fears in an individual were measured by the sum of responses to the 80 items of the

FSSC-R (with scores ranging from 80 to 240). Means and standard deviations are reported in

Table 2. A Disability Type (LD, MIMR) � Age (7–10, 11–13, 14–18 years) � Gender (male,

female) ANOVA was conducted on this measure. Results indicated significant main effect for

Gender, F (1, 199) = 6.62, p = 0.01. Significant Disability Type � Gender interaction effect, F

(1, 199) = 11.06, p = 0.00, and Disability Type � Age interaction effect, F (2, 198) = 5.35,

p = 0.02 were also found. The significant gender main effect showed that female students with

H. Li, R.J. Morris / Research in Developmental Disabilities 28 (2007) 445–457 449

LD and MIMR reported significantly higher total fear scores than their male counterparts. The

Disability Type � Gender interaction effect showed that the differences in the type of disabilities

were dependent on the gender and that female students in the LD group reported higher total fear

scores than male students. In the MIMR group, however, male students reported slightly higher

level of total fears than female students in the same group. The Disability Type � Age interaction

effect indicated that youngest students in the LD group (7–10 years) reported higher total fear

scores than older students in the same group (14–18 years). However, the students in the two

older age groups (11–13 and 14–18 years) from the MIMR group reported higher total fear scores

than the youngest group of students.

2.2. Type/content of fears

Types/contents of fears are the sum of responses to those items contained on each of the five

factors of the FSSC-R. The five factors are: fear of failure and criticism (scores ranging from 23

to 69); fear of the unknown (18–54); fear of minor injury and small animals (17–41); fear of

danger and death (12–36), and medical fear (4–12). The Disability Type � Age � Gender

MANOVA on the five factor scores revealed significant multivariate main effects for Disability

Type (Wilks’ Lambda = 0.89, F (5, 184) = 4.37, p = 0.00), Age (Wilks’ Lambda = 0.82, F (10,

368) = 3.91, p = 0.00), and Gender (Wilks’ Lambda = 0.91, F (5, 184) = 3.67, p = 0.00). In

addition, results showed significant Disability Type � Gender interaction effect (Wilks’

Lambda = 0.90, F (5, 184) = 4.04, p = 0.00). The univariate analyses with an adjusted alpha

value of 0.01 revealed that students with MIMR and students with LD did not differ significantly

on any of the five factors. No age differences were found either. With respect to gender, female

students reported significantly higher level of fears related to minor injury and small animals, F

(1, 188) = 15.23, p = 0.00. The Disability � Gender interaction effect showed that females in the

LD group reported significantly higher levels of fear on all five factors than their male

counterparts in the same group. Male students in the MIMR group reported higher level of fear

related to failure and criticism than did females having MIMR. The univariate analysis also

revealed Disability � Age interaction effect, F (2, 198) = 5.84, p = 0.00, showing that older

students (14–18 years) in the MIMR group, in relation to youngest students (7–10 years),

reported higher level of fear related to failure and criticism. Young students with LD (7–10 years)

reported higher levels of fears on all five factors. The means and standard deviations are

presented in Table 2.

H. Li, R.J. Morris / Research in Developmental Disabilities 28 (2007) 445–457450

Table 2

Means and standard deviation for self-reported fears across disability, gender, and age

Disability Gender Age (years)

LD MIMR Male Female 7–10 11–13 14–18

M S.D. M S.D. M S.D. M S.D. M S.D. M S.D. M S.D.

1 126.97 30.19 130.01 31.23 121.66 29.57 136.81 29.76 127.79 36.80 129.26 28.36 126.70 27.95

2 36.93 9.31 36.00 9.54 35.09 9.05 38.70 9.48 35.37 10.88 36.63 8.87 37.55 8.72

3 26.85 7.47 27.62 8.10 25.87 6.74 28.85 8.56 27.92 9.16 27.77 7.47 25.72 6.51

4 25.99 7.33 28.77 7.87 24.99 6.90 29.65 7.76 27.00 8.53 27.36 7.35 26.42 7.25

5 23.00 6.76 22.52 6.49 21.54 6.62 24.62 6.31 21.59 7.10 22.40 6.63 20.50 6.02

6 6.20 2.19 6.71 2.60 6.16 2.43 6.68 2.20 6.41 2.83 5.79 2.18 6.33 2.32

1, Total fears; 2, failure and criticism; 3, unknown; 4, minor injuries and small animals; 5, danger and death; 6, medical.

2.3. Most common fears

The most common fears were defined as the top 10 fears rated most frequently by students.

These fears across the two disability groups, shown in Table 3, fell under the fear of danger and

death factor and fear of the unknown factor on the FSSC-R, with nine out of the 10 fears being

from the fear of danger and death factor (e.g., being hit by a car or truck, bombing attacks, a

burglar breaking into our house, not being able to breathe, etc.). Only the eighth ranked fear (fear

of death or dead people) is on the fear of the unknown factor. The three items that were not listed

as one of the top 10 fears in LD and MIMR group all belonged to the factor of fear of minor injury

and small animals.

2.4. Total anxiety score

A Disability Type � Gender � Age ANOVA conducted on the total anxiety score only

showed a significant Age main effect, F (2, 193) = 5.51, p = 0.01. The post hoc test using Tukey

HSD for Age showed that children in the youngest group (7–10 years of age) reported

significantly higher total anxiety scores than those in the oldest group (14–18 years of age).

Means and standard deviations are presented in Table 4.

H. Li, R.J. Morris / Research in Developmental Disabilities 28 (2007) 445–457 451

Table 3

Ten most common fears endorsed by students in each disability group (percentage of endorsement)

Rank and item# Two disability

groups combined

LD

group

MIMR

group

1. Being hit by a car or truck (#41) 47.7 50.0 45.2

2. Bombing attacks (#20) 44.9 44.3 50.7

3. A burglar breaking into our house (#26) 41.1 36.4 52.2

4. Not being able to breathe (#76) 38.8 38.6 44.1

5. Fire-getting burned (#34) 38.6 35.6 43.1

6. Falling from high places (#58) 33.7 31.8 37.1

7. Getting a shock from electricity (#59) 33.7 30.3 n/a2

8. Death or dead people (#9) 32.7 28.3 38.0

9. Germs or getting a serious disease (#70) 31.1 n/a1 35.3

10. Earthquakes (#72) 30.7 31.8 n/a3

Note: n/a means that students in a specific disability group did not rank that item as one of the ten most common fears n/

a1 = 29.8: Guns (#32) n/a2 = 38.6: Snakes (#11) n/a 3 = 37.1: Getting a bee sting (#77).

Table 4

Means and standard deviation for self-reported anxieties across disability, gender, and age

Disability Gender Age (years)

LD MIMR Male Female 7–10 11–13 14–18

M S.D. M S.D. M S.D. M S.D. M S.D. M S.D. M S.D.

1 12.88 6.47 11.02 7.23 11.55 6.42 13.24 7.19 14.56 6.49 12.51 6.73 10.22 6.78

2 4.68 2.47 4.14 2.97 4.36 2.59 4.68 2.76 5.93 2.28 4.55 2.57 3.48 2.56

3 4.50 2.88 4.07 2.68 3.99 2.66 4.88 2.98 5.48 2.66 4.38 2.80 3.60 2.73

4 3.28 1.89 2.67 2.06 2.86 1.83 3.39 2.12 3.64 1.68 3.12 2.02 2.66 2.00

1, Total anxieties; 2, physiological anxiety; 3, worry/over sensitivity; 4, concentration anxiety.

2.5. Type/content of anxiety

A Disability Type � Age � Gender MANOVA was conducted on the three anxiety subscales:

physiological anxiety, worry/oversensitivity, and concentration. Means and standard deviations

are reported in Table 4. The results revealed a significant multivariate main effect for Age (Wilks’

Lambda = 0.87, F (6, 334) = 3.96, p = 0.00). Subsequent univariate analyses with adjusted alpha

level of 0.02 showed Age main effects on all the three subscales (with adjusted alpha level at

0.02), physiological anxiety, F (2, 180) = 11.90, p = 0.00, worry/oversensitivity, F (2,

180) = 5.27, p = 0.01; and concentration, F (2, 180) = 3.69, p = 0.02. Post hoc test with Tukey

HSD showed similar pattern to the total anxiety score, where children 7–10 years of age reported

significantly higher scores than those in the oldest group (14–18 years of age) on concentration,

worry/oversensitivity, and physiological anxiety. Gender main effect was also found on worry/

oversensitivity subscale, F (1, 180) = 5.48, p = 0.02), where female students reported

significantly higher levels of worry/oversensitivity than male students.

3. Discussion

The present study examined the number, types/content, and most common fears and related

anxieties in children with LD or MIMR with the purpose of examining possible differences and

similarities in the manifestation of fears and related anxieties in children with LD and children with

MIMR, and examining possible within-group differences related to children’s age or gender. The

results of the present study revealed more within-group rather than between-group differences in

terms of number, type and most common fears and related anxieties. In fact, similar to the findings

reported by Sabornie et al. (2006) on the social, behavioral, and academic characertistic between

students with LD and students with MIMR, no differences were found between the two groups in

their self-reported fears and anxieties. Instead, group differences of fears and related anxieties were

moderated by gender and/or age.

In terms of age trends in reported levels of fears and anxieties, Warren and Sroufe (2004) and

Morris and Kratochwill (1998) have suggested developmental differences in the number of and

expression of childhood fears and related anxiety in children without disabilities. They indicate

that younger children tend to report more fears and related anxieties and their fears are more

related to physical harm and the unknown; while adolescents are more fearful of social and

performance events. The fear patterns of young students with LD (7–10 years of age) in this

current study were similar to children without disabilities in that they reported higher total fear

scores and higher levels of fears related to unknown, small animals and minor injury, danger and

death, and medical procedures (Shore & Rapport, 1998; Weems & Costa, 2005). An unexpected

finding was that young students with LD also reported higher levels of fear related to failure and

criticism. This latter finding is worth attention from parents and educators. Students with LD may

start to realize that they are somewhat different in the way they learn things from an early age, and

the unsuccessful attempts in academic performance and social interaction with peers and adults

may increase their level of such fears. Different from studies with LD and non-disabled

population, older male students (14–18 years of age) in the MIMR group reported significantly

higher total fear score. Furthermore, the levels of such fears, in comparison with non-disabled

population, were much higher (Ollendick, Yang, King, Dong, & Akande, 1996). Another

unexpected finding was that older male students with MIMR reported higher levels of fear related

to failure and criticism, a result that was not reported in previous studies involving students with

MIMR (e.g., Vandenberg, 1993). It is possible that older male students with MIMR are subject to

H. Li, R.J. Morris / Research in Developmental Disabilities 28 (2007) 445–457452

more derision from peers with or without a disability and less protection from adults due to their

male status. Although they still cannot understand a lot of the unknown things around them, they

may be able to sense others’ opinion about themselves. There is a lack of evidence to validate this

finding, literature on loneliness in students with MIMR, however, does indicate that male

students with MIMR were reportedly significantly lonelier than female students with MIMR and

non-disabled children of both gender (Williams & Asher, 1992) and high school students with

MIMR experience greater loneliness and dissatisfaction with peer relationship (Luftig, 1988).

In addition, younger students (7–10 years of age) were generally found to report higher levels

of stage non-specific general anxiety and subtypes of anxiety, i.e., physiological symptoms,

worry/oversensitivity, and concentration problems. Results from Reynolds and Richmond’s

(1997) national standardization study also showed that children 7–10 years of age reported higher

levels of physiological anxiety and concentration anxiety. Non-disabled youths who were 11–13

years of age, however, reported higher levels of total anxiety and worry/oversensitivity. It was

also noted that the levels of general anxiety and subtypes of anxiety in the current sample were

higher than those reported by the non-disabled population across age groups, as indicated in the

study of Reynolds and Richmond (1997).

There were several main effects for gender. These results were similar to the studies and reports

including non-disabled student populations, where girls reported higher levels of specific fears and

related anxieties (e.g., Dong et al., 1994; Gullone, King, & Cummings, 1996; Schaefer, Watkins, &

Brunham, 2003). Specifically, girls with or without disability were significantly more fearful than

boys. In this study girls reported higher levels of total fear and higher levels of fears related to minor

injury and small animals, and they were more worrisome and sensitive to others’ opinions. Two

broad frameworks may account for this result (Lewinsohn, Gotlib, Lewinsohn, Seeley, & Allen,

1998). First, social roles and expectations of boys and girls may be associated with differential

reporting of fears and related anxieties by girls and boys (Sutton & Farrall, 2005). For example,

Sutton and Farrall found that males were more likely to underreport their fears even though they

experience similar level of fears as females. Lewinsohn et al. (1998), however, found that gender

differences in the psychosocial variables (such as expectations, self-esteem, social desirability, etc.)

did not account for the gender differences in fear and anxiety symptoms. Second, besides the

aforementioned social framework, a biological framework may also be indicated as responsible for

the gender differences in fears and anxieties (Lewinsohn et al., 1998).

The 10 most common fears reported across the two disability groups were related to the fear of

danger and death factor and the fear of the unknown factor. These findings are consistent with

those of Knapp et al. (1992) and Matson and Love (1990) in that the 10 most common fears were

mostly related to objects or events which might endanger one’s physical wellbeing. Both the

current and previous findings on students with disabilities reveal that seven of the 10 most

common fears are shared by the non-disabled participants of similar age as reported by

Ollendick, Yule, and Ollier (1991) and Ollendick et al. (1996).

The levels of fears reported by children and adolescents with disabilities, however, were

mostly higher than those reported by their non-disabled counterparts. The three items that were

reported only by the non-disabled children were in the fear of failure and criticism factor. One

possible explanation for this finding may be that, in comparison with non-disabled children and

adolescents, students with LD or MIMR as a whole, in spite of within-group differences

mentioned earlier regarding fear of failure and criticism, are either accustomed to academic

difficulties and criticisms or they are not challenged enough academically. Another explanation

could be that the instructions are conducted at their performance level in order that they

frequently experience academic and social success.

H. Li, R.J. Morris / Research in Developmental Disabilities 28 (2007) 445–457 453

4. Implications and directions for future research

Students with LD and students with MIMR seem to share a lot of similar fears and related

anxieties. The top fears across the two groups of students are fairly consistent, and reinforce the need

to provide prevention and intervention strategies for helping children and youth deal with common

fears such as bombing attacks and automobile accidents. On average, close to 50% of all children

rated these as their tops fears, indicating a need to address these concerns in a systematic way.

Given the finding of a reversed age pattern of LD and the MIMR groups in terms of number of

specific fears, it would appear that this deserves further attention on the part of researchers as well

as parents, educators, and psychological professionals. The number of specific fears may

decrease as children with LD mature, and younger students with LD may have a similar pattern to

their non-disabled peers, while some specific fears of students with MIMR may increase as they

get older. Older male students having MIMR are reportedly more sensitive to criticism and can

get hurt emotionally more than their non-disabled peers. Due to their low cognitive functioning,

these students may not only find it hard to understand their environment but also have difficulty

expressing their emotions and feelings even if they experience several fears and have many

worries. Psychologists, teachers, and parents should be aware of the increased number of fears

and level of anxiety of these older male students with MIMR and consider adjusting their

educational curriculum as well as the types of psychological services provided to them.

In spite of the genetic assumption of gender difference and vulnerability to fears and related

anxieties, parents, educators, and psychologists should be aware that it may be more socially

acceptable for girls to express their fears than boys, thus, it may not necessarily mean that boys do

not experience as many fears as girls.

This study presents several methodological limitations which should be considered in future

research. Perhaps the most important limitation involves the lack of a matched control group of

typically developing children and adolescents. Future research would do well to include non-

disabled children and adolescents from regular classroom settings. In this way, the results

regarding children having LD or MIMR could be compared more directly to non-disabled

children. Second, assessment procedures were modified to meet the unique needs of students

with disabilities for the administration of the FSSC-R and RCMAS. Consequently testing

conditions were not standardized. Thus, a question may be raised that the lack of differences

between the two groups may have been due to adult intervention (reading items to students).

However, consistent with the work of King, Josephs, Gullone, Madden, and Ollendick (1994), ‘‘it

is doubtful that administration can be standardized across such diverse groups or that the results

can be attributed to differences in administration alone. After all, children were tested under

conditions that best facilitated their understanding of the stimulus items’’ (p. 384).

As noted in the ethnic composition of participants, two major ethnic groups emerged,

Caucasian and Hispanic. Although some studies have compared fears and related anxieties in

non-disabled Caucasian and Hispanic population, very few studies, if any, have been conducted

to compare fears and related anxieties in children and adolescents with a disability in these two

populations. Given the double label, disability and minority, and its negative influences on the

emotional well being of Hispanic children and adolescents with disabilities, this topic should

deserve imminent attention.

Few studies have compared child, teacher, and parent ratings using the same assessment

instruments to determine how well the ratings of these different informants correlate with

each other. Thus, more research is warranted in this area. Research is needed on possible

differences in reported fears and anxieties in children with specific types of learning

H. Li, R.J. Morris / Research in Developmental Disabilities 28 (2007) 445–457454

disabilities such as math, reading, writing or non-verbal disabilities. Future studies may also

want to explore the relationship between levels of fears and anxieties and levels of academic

performance. Extensive studies have been done on loneliness in children with LD and some

studies in children with MIMR, it will be more informative to examine the correlation

between loneliness and fears and related anxieties and how these affective constructs interact

and reciprocate, and how they relate to cognitive and achievement characteristics (Gresham &

MacMillan, 1997).

Acknowledgements

This study was funded, in part, by the University of Arizona’s David and Minnie Meyerson

Foundation’s ‘‘Project on Research, Advocacy, and Policy Studies on Disability’’ and the

Jacqueline Anne Morris Memorial Foundation’s ‘‘Children’s Research and Policy Studies

Project.’’ We wish to acknowledge the assistance of Ms. Gretchen Schoenfield in the literature

review.

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