Changes in social fears across childhood and adolescence: Age-related differences in the factor structure of the Fear Survey Schedule for Children-Revised

The (in)variance of the structure of fear across child and adolescent development was investigated using the response of 3,803 young people (aged 6–18 years) to the Fear Survey Schedule for Children-Revised (FSSC-R). It was hypothesized that the structure of fear, particularly social fear, would become more differentiated during adolescence. Confirmatory factor analysis was utilized to test the goodness-of-fit of a 5-factor solution (with one social factor, that is Failure and Criticism) and a 7-factor solution (with social items divided into three distinct subfactors) among three age groups. Results indicated that a 5-factor solution (including just one social factor) adequately characterizes the structure of fear in childhood (6–9 years), whereas a 7-factor solution (including three social factors) more appropriately characterizes the structure of fear in adolescence (10–13 and 14–18 years). It appears that a global social fear exists until around the age of 9, and that social fears becomes more differentiated thereafter.