Children's and Adolescents' Response to the Prospect of Nuclear War: A Review

Abstract

A review of research examining the response of children and adolescents to the potential of nuclear war is presented. The dearth of research studying young children is discussed and the large body of research focusing on adolescents is reviewed, utilising the following major categories: (a) the early studies of the response to nuclear war; (b) knowledge of nuclear developments; (c) effect of knowledge on fear about nuclear war; (d) fears/worries about the threat of nuclear war; and (e) the effect of fear about nuclear war. Finally, the few studies which have examined the response to the threat of nuclear war within the family context are reviewed. In the final section of the paper, a critique of the existing research is presented, and recommendations for future research are offered, including methodological concerns and a theoretical approach to understanding the response to the threat of nuclear war.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Alvik, T. (1968). The development of views on conflict, war, and peace among school children: A Norwegian case study . Journal of Peace Research, 5, 171-195 .

Beardslee, W.R. , & Mack, J.E. (1982). The impact on children and adolescents of nuclear developments. Report No. 20. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association, Task force on Psychosocial Aspects of Nuclear Development .

Blackwell, P.L. , & Gessner, J.C. (1983). Fear and trembling: An inquiry into adolescent perceptions of living in the nuclear age . Youth and Society, 15, 237-255 .

Bloch, D. (1984). What do we tell the kids? The Family Therapy Networker, 8, 30-30, 36-36, 37-37, 62-62 .

Boehnke, K. , Macpherson, M. , Meador, M. , & Petri, H. (1989). How West German adolescents experience the nuclear threat . Political Psychology, 10, 419-443 .

Boyd, B.J. , Wallinga, C. , Paguio, L.P. , & Skeen, P. (submitted). Nuclear issues in the family: Examining parental awareness and communication.

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press .

Bronte, E. , & Musgrove, M. (1943). Influences of war in children's play . Child Development, 14, 129-200 .

Chivian, E. , Robinson, J.P. , Tudge, J.R.H. , Popov, N.P. , & Andreyenkov, V.G. (1989). American and Soviet teenagers' concerns about nuclear war and the future . The New England Journal of Medicine, 319, 407-413 .

10.

Chivian, E. , & Snow, R.M. (1983). There's a nuclear war going on inside me: What children are saying about nuclear war. [Videotape]. Boston: International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War .

11.

Chivian, E. , Mack, J.E. , Waletsky, J.P. , Lazaroff, C. , Doctor, R. , & Goldenring, J.M. (1985). Soviet children and the threat of nuclear war: A preliminary study . American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 55, 484-502 .

12.

Clarry, S. (1983). Growing up knowing: Children's fears of a nuclear future . Family Life Educator, 3(3), 4-9 .

13.

Doctor, R.M. , Goldenring, J.M. , & Powell, A. (1987). Adolescents' attitudes about nuclear war . Psychological Reports, 60, 599-614 .

14.

Diamond, G. , & Bachman, J. (1986). High school seniors and the nuclear threat, 1975-1984: Political and mental health implications of concern and despair . International Journal of Mental Health, 15, 210-241 .

15.

Elam, S.M. (1983). Educators and the nuclear threat . Phi Delta Kappa, 64, 533-538 .

16.

Elkind, D. (1967). Egocentrism in adolescence . Child Development, 38, 1025-1034 .

17.

Escalona, S.K. (1965). Children and the threat of nuclear war. In M. Schwebel (Ed.), Behavioral science and human survival (pp. 201-209). Palo Alto, CA: Science and Behavior Books .

18.

Escalona, S.K. (1982). Growing up with the threat of nuclear war: Some indirect effects on personality development . American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 52, 600-607 .

19.

Freud, A. , & Burlingame, D. (1943). War and children. New York: Ernst Willard .

20.

Friedman, B. (1984). Preschoolers awareness of the nuclear threat . California Association for the Education of Young Children Newsletter, 12, 2-2 .

21.

Galperin, M. , Holt, R.R. , & Howells, R. (1988). What Soviet emigre adolescents think about nuclear war . Political Psychology, 9, 1-12 .

22.

Gillies, P. (1989). A longitudinal study of the hopes and worries of adolescents . Journal of Adolescents, 12, 69-81 .

23.

Goldberg, S. , LaCombe, S. , Levinson, D. , Parker, K.R. , Ross, C. , & Sommers, F. (1985). Thinking about the threat of nuclear war: Relevance to mental health . American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 55, 503-512 .

24.

Goodman, L. , Mack, J. , Beardslee, W. , & Snow, R. (1983). The threat of nuclear war and the nuclear arms race: Adolescent experience and perceptions . Political Psychology, 4, 501-530 .

25.

Griffin, M. , & Prior, M. (1990). Young people and the nuclear threat . Journal of Youth Studies, 7, 40-43 .

26.

Hamilton, S.B. , Knox, T.A. , & Keilin, W.G. (1986). The nuclear family: Correspondence in cognitive and affective reactions to the threat of nuclear war among older adolescents and their parents . Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 15, 133-145 .

27.

Hamilton, S.B. , Mouwerik, S.V. , Oetting, E.R. , Beauvis, F. , & Keilin, W.G. (1988). Nuclear war as a source of adolescent worry: Relationships with age, gender, trait emotionality, and drug use . The Journal of Social Psychology, 128, 745-763 .

28.

Hanford, H.A. , Dickerson-Mayes, S. , Mattison, R.E. , Humphrey, F.J. , Bagnato, S. , Bixler, E.O. , & Kales, J.D. (1986). Child and parent reaction to the Three Mile Island nuclear accident . Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 25, 345-356 .

29.

Hanley, C.P., & Christie, D.J. (1988). An inventory designed to measure the impact of the threat of nuclear war on adolescents: Dimensions offear, futurelessness, and powerlessness. Unpublished manuscript.

30.

Hann, N. (1977). Coping and defending: Processes of self-environment organization. New York: Academic Press .

31.

Hanna, S.D. (1983). The psychosocial impact of the nuclear threat on children. Unpublished manuscript. [Available from Stephen Douglas Hanna, MD, Akron City Hospital, Akron, OH.]

32.

Hargraves, S. (1986). The nuclear anxieties of youth: A partial replication of the Beardslee/ Mack (1982) study in Burnbay, British Columbia . Peace Research, 18(2), 46-65 .

33.

Harvey, C.B. , Howell, D. , & Colthorpe, P. (1985). Canadian adolescents' concerns in the nuclear age: Implications for counsellors and teachers . Canadian Counsellor, 19(2), 53-62 .

34.

Haste, H. (1989). Everybody's scared, but life goes on: Coping, and defense and action in the face of nuclear threat . Journal of Adolescence, 12, 11-26 .

35.

Lazarus, R.S. (1966). Psychological stress and the coping process. New York: McGraw-Hill .

36.

Lewis, C. , Goldberg, S. , & Parker, R. (1989). Nuclear worries of Canadian youth: Replication and extension . American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 54, 520-527 .

37.

Lifton, R.J. (1982). Beyond psychic numbing: A call to awareness . American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 52, 619-629 .

38.

Moscovici, S. (1991). On social representations. In J.P. Forgas (Ed.), Social cognition: Perspectives on everyday understanding (pp. 181-209). London: Academic Press .

39.

Newcomb, M.D. (1986). Nuclear attitudes and reactions: Associations with depression, drug use, and quality of life . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 906-920 .

40.

Oliver, P. (1989). Reactions of young New Zealanders to nuclear issues . Community Mental Health in New Zealand, 4, 23-40 .

41.

Oliver, P. (1990). Nuclear freedom and students' sense of efficacy about prevention of nuclear war . American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 60, 611-620 .

42.

Perlmutter, M.S. , & Ringler, D. (1986). Nuclear anxiety: Social symptomalogy and educational therapy . Marriage and Family Review, 10(2), 59-84 .

43.

Raundalen, M. , & Finnoy, O.J. (1986). Scandinavian youth view the future: A preliminary report of a large questionnaire survey. In F. Solomon & R.Q. Marston (Eds.), The medical implications of nuclear war (pp. 435-443). Washington, DC: National Academy Press .

44.

Robinson, J.P. , Chivian, E. , & Tudge, J. (1989). News media use and adolescents' attitudes about nuclear issues: An American-Soviet comparison . Journal of Communication, 39, 105-113 .

45.

Rodd, J. (1985). Preschool children's understanding of war . Early Child Development and Care, 22, 109-121 .

46.

Roscoe, B. , & Goodwin, M.P. (1987). Adolescents' knowledge of nuclear issues and the effects of nuclear war . Adolescence, 22, 803-812 .

47.

Russo, T.J. , & Lyon, M.A. (1990). Predictors of college students' levels of knowledge and concern about nuclear war . Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 20, 739-750 .

48.

Schatz, R.T. , & Fiske, S.T. (1992). International reactions to the threat of nuclear war: The rise and fall of concerns in the eighties . Political Psychology, 13(1), 1-29 .

49.

Schwebel, M. (1965). Nuclear cold war: Student options and professional responsibility. In M. Schwebel , (Ed.), Behavioral science and human survival (pp. 210-223). Palo Alto, CA: Science and Behavior Books .

50.

Schwebel, M. (1990). The construction of reality in the nuclear age . Political Psychology, 11, 521-552 .

51.

Selman, R.L. (1980). The growth of interpersonal understanding: Developmental and clinical analyses. London: Academic Press .

52.

Simon, R. (1984). The nuclear family . Family Therapy Networker, 8, 22-27 .

53.

Skeen, P. , Wallinga, C. , & Paguio, L. (1985). Nuclear war, children and parents: A review of research . Dimensions, 13, 27-28 .

54.

Slee, P.T. , & Cross, D.G. (1989). Living in the nuclear age: An Australian study of children's and adolescent's fears . Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 19, 270-279 .

55.

Solantaus, T. , Rimpela, M. , & Rahkonen, O. (1985). Social epidemiology of the experience of threat of war among Finnish youth . Social Science and Medicine, 21, 145-151 .

56.

Solantaus, T. , Rimpela, M. , & Taipale, U. (1984). The threat of war in the minds of 12-18 year olds in Finland . Lancet, 8380, 784-785 .

57.

Stewart, G.A. (1988). The relationship between adolescents concern over the threat of nuclear war and several personality dimensions . Canadian Journal of Behavioral Science, 20, 452-460 .

58.

Stillion, J.M. , Goodrow, H. , Klingman, A. , Loughlin, M. , Morgan, J.D. , Sandsberg, S. , Walton, M. , & Warren, W.G. (1988). Dimensions of the shadow: Children of six nations respond to the nuclear threat . Death Education, 12, 227-251 .

59.

Taylor, A.J.W. , & Patten, M.D. (1987). The attitudes and responses of Wellington adolescents to nuclear war and other nuclear issues . New Zealand Journal of Psychology, 17, 36-40 .

60.

Tephly, J. (1985). Young children's understanding of war and peace . Early Child Development and Care, 20, 271-285 .

61.

Thearle, L. , & Weinrich-Haste, H. (1986). Ways of dealing with the nuclear threat: Coping and defense among British adolescents . International Journal of Mental Health, 15, 126-141 .

62.

Tudge, J. , Chivian, E. , Robinson, J. , Andreyenkov, V. , & Popov, N. (1991). American and Soviet adolescents' attitudes toward the future: The relationship between worry about nuclear war and optimism . International Journal of Mental Health, 19, 58-84 .

63.

Verdon-Roe, V. (1983). Growing up in the nuclear age: What children can tell us . East West Journal, January, 24-31 .

64.

Zeitlin, S. (1984). What do we tell Mom and Dad? Family Therapy Networker, 8, 31-31, 38-38, 39-39, 62-62 .

65.

Zweigenhaft, R.L. (1984). What do Americans know about nuclear weapons? Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 40(2), 48-48, 50-50 .

66.

Zweigenhaft, R.L. (1985). Providing information and shaping attitudes about nuclear dangers: Implications for public education . Political Psychology, 6, 461-480 .

67.

Zweigenhaft, R.L. , Jennings, P. , Rubenstein, S.C. , & Van Hoorn, J. (1986). Nuclear knowledge and nuclear anxiety: A cross-cultural investigation . Journal of Social Psychology, 126, 473-484 .