“Too many children are fearful… without respect for themselves or others.”

– Chave, E. (1937). Personality Development in Children. University of Chicago Press, 111.

The theme of this project was fear, specifically in historical childhoods. It naturally follows that the literature that contributed to this project would share in this theme. All the literature fell into three sub-categories that contributed to this theme. The first set of scholarly books and articles dealt directly with the fears of historical children. These pieces discussed historical schools, factories, and other locales that contributed to the fears of historical children. This segment also addressed societal factors that contributed to children’s fears. Chave’s book was especially useful in identifying social attitudes that did so.

“By the age of 3 years, most children exhibit fears of bodily injury, pain, natural phenomena, the dark, and animals.”

Sayfan, L., & Lagattuta, K. H. (2008). Grownups Are Not Afraid of Scary Stuff, but Kids Are: Young Children’s and Adults’ Reasoning about Children’s, Infants’, and Adults’ Fears. Child Development, 79(4), 821.

“… behavior problems included depression, suicidal behaviors, anxiety, fears, phobias, tics, bed-wetting, and low self-esteem.”

Fantuzzo, J. W., & Mohr, W. K. (1999). Prevalence and Effects of Child Exposure to Domestic Violence. The Future of Children, 9(3), 27.

The second set engaged with the fears of historical children indirectly. This segment of literature would examine modern instances of childhood fears, be it from physical violence or societal circumstances. As a group we extrapolated backwards what we could to make educated assumptions about the fears of children at the turn of the 20th century. Sayfan and Lagattuta’s article explored modern fears of children, while Bartlett’s chapter was exemplary in how specific locales influence children’s fear. 

The last set of literature dealt with the fears of the parents at the time. This literature focused on what parents were worried would harm or corrupt their children. Rozycki explored why adults decide to discipline children to steer them away from perceived immorality. All three sets shared a common theme of fear of violence perpetrated on the children, although from what source and what constituted violence differed greatly between modern writers, historical children, and historical parents. Abuse of children was present in several of the sources. More mundane fears were also present, ranging from dentists to ghosts.