Slide

Television Induced Fear Scale

Description

18-item scale that measures four types of television-induced fears: fear of interpersonal violence, fear of war and suffering, fear of fires and accidents, and fear of fantasy characters. Cronbach alphas for the four subscales were .76 for fear of war and suffering, .76 for fear of fires and accidents, .76 for fear of fantasy characters, and .83 for fear of interpersonal violence.

Location

Valkenburg, P. M., Cantor, J., & Peeters, A. (2000). Fright reactions to Television: A Child Survey. Communication Research, 27, 82-99.

Instruction

When you watch television, how often have you been frightened by…
(Response options: never, sometimes, often)

Interpersonal violence
…people who fight with knives
…somebody who gets murdered
…blood
…people who shoot each other
…children who are kidnapped
War and suffering
…children in poor countries who are starving
…animals who get hurt
…children who get hurt
…wars in other countries
Fires and accidents
…houses or buildings on fire
…cars that run into each other
…air crashes
…car accidents
Fantasy characters
…ghosts
…monsters
…witches
…dragons
…aliens


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