A Comparative Study of Children's Worries

Abstract

In the late thirties Pinter and Lev discovered that fifth and sixth graders in New York City worried most about family and school items, with the greatest single worry being “failing a test” in school. The present study was designed to replicate their work and to determine whether changing social, economic, and political conditions have affected the worries of children. In 1977 an augmented version of the 1939 Pinter and Lev Worries Inventory was administered to 645 rural and urban fifth and sixth graders in Chautauqua County, New York. Results indicate that “failing a test” was still the most worrisome item. Comparisons of the Pinter and Lev and the present study indicate that boys in the 1939 sample worried significantly more about economic items, girls in the 1977 sample worried significantly more in all areas except personal health, and children in the 1977 sample had more worries pertaining to “robbers,” “kidnappers,” “strange people following me,” and “being taken away by strangers.” In addition, “someone dying in my family” ranked fourth for boys and girls in the 1977 sample and 39th for boys and 31st for girls in the 1939 sample.