Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 270
•
Trim: 6 x 9⅛
978-1-5381-2122-1 • Hardback • January 2019 • $133.00 • (£102.00)
978-1-5381-2123-8 • Paperback • January 2019 • $45.00 • (£35.00)
978-1-5381-2124-5 • eBook • January 2019 • $42.50 • (£33.00)
Maya Götz, Dr. phil, is Head of the International Central Institute for Youth and Educational Television (IZI) at the Bayerischer Rundfunk (Bavarian Broadcasting Corp.), Munich, Germany, and of the PRIX JEUNESSE Foundation. Her main field of work is research in the area of “children/youth and television” and gender-specific reception research. She has conducted over 100 formative studies to foster quality in current TV programmes.
Dafna Lemish is an Israeli media researcher in the fields of children, youth and leisure culture. She currently serves as Associate Dean for Programs at Rutgers School of Communication and Information. She is the author of numerous books and the founding editor of Journal of Children and Media.
Andrea Holler is Scientific Editor at the International Central Institute for Youth and Educational Television (IZI), Munich, Germany
Introduction - The Seven Elements of Fear
- Impacts and Coping Strategies with the Fear
- What Frightens Pre-schoolers
From Bambi to the Simpsons - What is Frightening in Middle Childhood?
From Jaws to news - What Frightens Pre-teens and Teenagers
From Chucky to Sixth Sense - The Eight Themes of Nightmares
- Thrill: When Fear Becomes Fun
- Gender Differences in Fear Experiences
- Culture Differences in Fear Experiences
- Conclusions and Implications for the Wellbeing of Children
References
Appendices:
A. Fear and Thrill Experiences from TV: Sample and Method of a Retrospective Study:
B. Children’s Nightmares from TV: Sample and Method
Index: Programs Cited
Fear in Front of the Screen provides the results of two scientifically rigorous research studies providing an in-depth understanding of children and adolescent media-induced fear reactions across the globe. This book would be an excellent addition to the reading list of any graduate-level course on children and media. It would also serve as a useful text for undergraduate students taking courses on media effects, broadly speaking, or children and media, in particular. Parents may also find this book useful, as the presentation of results are clear and accessible to a wide variety of audiences, and the concluding chapter provides a clear set of guidelines on how to support children. Finally, scholars exploring children’s media-induced fear responses – or, children and emotion more broadly – would be well-served by reading and citing this book.— Journal of Children and Media
Fear in Front of the Screen is a comprehensive review of both the literature on media induced fear in childhood as well as a report of original cross-cultural research with children and adolescents. The authors adopt a developmental approach to what elicits fear reactions to media portrayals at different ages and how children and adolescents cope with fear and thrill inducing media experiences. The combination of survey and qualitative research offers a rich description of the phenomena and a thoughtful and well substantiated set of recommendations for how to aid children when they are frightened. This is a terrific book and I highly recommend it to students of children and media research. — Ellen Wartella, Northwestern School of Communication
Fear in Front of the Screen provides an in-depth review of literature on media and fear in childhood and covers results of two rigorous cross-cultural studies that provide both a retrospective perspective of childhood media experiences and contemporary children's nightmares caused by watching frightening television. This book is accessible and informative for a wide range of readers and offers an informed perspective to consider media production, media selection and research approaches.
— Communication Research Trends