by Chalee Chaput
A new study conducted by Kenneth S. Kendler M.D. from the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine in Richmond, Virginia discovered that genes contribute to the fears of children and adolescents. He found that “genetic factors linked with fears appear to change as children and adolescents age.” It is said that the importance of some genetic factors are lost over time, but there are others that increase as a child ages into adolescence.
Kendler M.D. began this study with two hypotheses, the “developmentally stable” and the “developmentally dynamic.” The “developmentally stable” hypothesis stated that one set of genes were the cause of the level of an eight year-old child’s fear and it are these genes that influence a person’s fear throughout their life. The “developmentally dynamic” hypothesis stated that the genes that influence childhood fears will change over time as a person ages into adolescence.
Dr. Kendler conducted this study by having researchers studied 2,490 Swedish twins born between 1985 and 1986. Researchers assessed these children’s fears four times thorughout their lives. The first time was between the ages of 8 and 9, the second was between the ages of 13 and 14, the third was between the ages of 16 and 17, and the fourth one was between the ages of 19 and 20. The first evaluation was done through a questionaire given to the children’s parents, the second and third evaluations were done through questionaires given to both the parents and the children. The last evaluation was done through a questionaire given only to the children.
From the data received, researchers found that their were three categories in which the fears could be separated. First there are situational fears, which include fear of the dark, tight/closed spaces, and flying. Next there are animal fears. Lastly there are blood/injury fears, which include the fear of the dentist.
Their data suggested that genes played a role in all three fear categories, but they do not “remain stable over time.” Researchers found that there are a set of genetic factors that influence children’s fears, but these decrease quickly as they age. Although, they also found new sets of genetic factors that activate at different moments in a person’s life; early adolescence, late adolescence, and early adulthood.
I thought the research that Dr. Kendler conducted was quite interesting because people always associate a person’s fears with childishness and irrationality. No one ever thinks that fears are related to a person’s genes. This finding is amazing because it shows that people cannot necessarily help when they are afraid of something; no matter how hard they may try to overcome it, they may always be afraid of it. I do think that Dr. Kendler could’ve gone deeper with his reasearch by studying how each child reacted to their individual fears. There may be connections between genetics and reactions to fears.
I decided to blog about this article because it related closely to what my neurologist said about stress. I was diagnosed with calcifications on the brain at the age of 15 and doctors said that I probably had them since I was born. Recently, my neurologist was asking me about my stress levels and how easily stress affects me and my health. I do get stressed out easily, but I’ve learned how to cope with it over the years. My doctor said that the reason I get stressed out easier than most people is because the calcifications that sit on my brain sit directly on the stress inducing area of my brain. He said that this extra pressure on this part of my brain is what stresses me out faster than the average person. I found it both interesting and a relief to know that fear is affected in a similar way.
