9781422280577

C h i l d h o o d F e a r s a n d A n x i e t i e s

Crime and Terrorism

H.W. Poole

S e r i e s C o n s u l t a n t Anne S. Walters, Ph.D. Emma Pendleton Bradley Hospital Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University

C h i l d h o o d F e a r s a n d A n x i e t i e s

Crime and Terrorism

C h i l d hood F e a r s an d An x i e t i e s Anxiety and Fear in Daily Life Catastrophes Crime and Terrorism Family Fears Medical Fears Nighttime Fears Phobias School Fears Separation Anxiety Social Fears Symptoms and Treatments of Anxiety Disorders

C h i l d h o o d F e a r s a n d A n x i e t i e s

Crime and Terrorism

H.W. Poole

S e r i e s C o n s u l t a n t Anne S. Walters, Ph.D. Emma Pendleton Bradley Hospital Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University

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Table of Contents Series Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Chapter One: Understanding Our Fears . . . . . . 9 Chapter Two: Fear of Terrorism . . . . . . . . . . 17 Chapter Three: Fear of Crime . . . . . . . . . . 29 Chapter Four: Coping with Crime Fears . . . . . . 37 Further Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Series Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 About the Advisor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Photo Credits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Words to Understand: These words with their easy-to- understand definitions will increase the reader’s understanding of the text, while building vocabulary skills. Sidebars: This boxed material within the main text allows readers to build knowledge, gain insights, explore possibilities, and broaden their perspectives by weaving together additional information to provide realistic and holistic perspectives. Educational Videos: Readers can view videos by scanning our QR codes, which will provide them with additional educational content to supplement the text. Examples include news coverage, moments in history, speeches, iconic sports moments, and much more. Text-Dependent Questions: These questions send the reader back to the text for more careful attention to the evidence presented there. Research Projects: Readers are pointed toward areas of further inquiry connected to each chapter. Suggestions are provided for projects that encourage deeper research and analysis. Series Glossary of Key Terms: This back-of-the-book glossary contains terminology used throughout the series. Words found here increase the reader’s ability to read and comprehend higher-level books and articles in this field.

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Series Introduction Who among us does not have memories of an intense childhood fear? Fears and anxieties are a part of every childhood. Indeed, these fears are fodder for urban legends and campfire tales alike. And while the details of these legends and tales change over time, they generally have at their base predictable childhood terrors such as darkness, separation from caretakers, or bodily injury. We know that fear has an evolutionary component. Infants are helpless, and, compared to other mammals, humans have a very long developmental period. Fear ensures that curious children will stay close to caretakers, making them less likely to be exposed to danger. This means that childhood fears are adaptive, making us more likely to survive, and even thrive, as a species. Unfortunately, there comes a point when fear and anxiety cease to be useful. This is especially problematic today, for there has been a startling increase in anxiety among children and adolescents. In fact, 25 percent of 13- to 18-year- olds now have mild to moderate anxiety, and the median age of onset for anxiety disorders is just 11 years old. Why might this be? Some say that the contemporary United States is a nation preoccupied with risk, and it is certainly possible that our children are absorbing this preoccupation as well. Certainly, our exposure to potential threats has never been greater. We see graphic images via the media and have more immediate news of all forms of disaster. This can lead our children to feel more vulnerable, and it may increase the likelihood that they respond with fear. If children based their fear on the news that they see on Facebook or on TV, they would dramatically overestimate the likelihood of terrible things happening. As parents or teachers, what do we do about fear? As in other areas of life, we provide our children with guidance and education on a daily basis. We teach them about the signs and feelings of fear. We discuss and normalize typical fear reactions, and support them in tackling difficult situations despite fear. We

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explain—and demonstrate by example—how to identify “negative thinking traps” and generate positive coping thoughts instead. But to do so effectively, we might need to challenge some of our own assumptions about fear. Adults often assume that they must protect their children from fear and help them to avoid scary situations, when sometimes the best course is for the child to face the fear and conquer it. This is counterintuitive for many adults: after all, isn’t it our job to reassure our children and help them feel better? Yes, of course! Except when it isn’t. Sometimes they need us to help them confront their fears and move forward anyway. That’s where these volumes come in. When it comes to fear, balanced information is critical. Learning about fear as it relates to many different areas can help us to help our children remember that although you don’t choose whether to be afraid, you do choose how to handle it. These volumes explore the world of childhood fears, seeking to answer important questions: How much is too much? And how can fear be positive, functioning to mobilize us in the face of danger? Fear gives us the opportunity to step up and respond with courage and resilience. It pushes us to expand our sphere of functioning to areas that might feel unfamiliar or risky. When we are a little nervous or afraid, we tend to prepare a little more, look for more information, ask more questions—and all of this can function to help us expand the boundaries of our lives in a positive direction. So, while fear might feel unpleasant, there is no doubt that it can have a positive outcome. Let’s teach our children that.

—Anne Walters, Ph.D. Chief Psychologist, Emma Pendleton Bradley Hospital Clinical Associate Professor, Alpert Medical School of Brown University

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Chapter One

Understanding Our Fears

Were you warned about “stranger danger” when you were younger? That’s the phrase child-safety experts use to educate little kids about avoiding predators such as kidnappers. Some kids are even taught to run screaming from strangers who approach them in public—that’s called “yell and tell.” But this strategy has been criticized in recent years. These days, some experts prefer to talk about “tricky people” instead. “Tricky people” emphasizes that only certain adults are unsafe, rather than making it sound like all strangers are to be feared. The debate over “stranger danger” versus “tricky people” shows the difficult challenge of talking to kids about safety and crime. The truth is, kidnappings are very rare (more on this later), but they do happen every once in a while. Mass shootings are not an everyday event, and yet it seems like we see them on the news all the time. Terrorist attacks are even more rare—but again, it would be wrong to say they never happen. That’s our reality in the 21st century.

Words to Understand assault: an attack on someone’s body, such as punching or hitting. breach: to break through a barrier, like a wall or, here, computer security. civilians: people who are not in the military. predator: here, a person who attacks or takes advantage of someone else.

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Crime and Terrorism

Still, most of us will go our whole lives without being kidnapped, shot at, or blown up. And the vast majority of adults would never hurt a child. In fact, not only are most “strangers” not dangerous, but many of them—such as police officers, teachers, and so on— are the exact people kids should trust. Parents have to walk a careful line between teaching kids good habits and making them scared for no reason. And we all— kids and grown-ups alike—need to figure out how to be safe without being constantly afraid. Defining Threats Before we get too far into discussing what to do about these fears, it’s important to define our terms. When we talk about crime and terrorism, what exactly do we mean?

A rule almost every kid has heard is: “Don’t take candy from strangers.”

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Understanding Our Fears

Crime is a broad term that can refer to a huge range of different illegal activities, including stealing cars, selling drugs, cheating on taxes, and many other things. When people talk about a “fear of crime,” their biggest fears tend to involve a person (or people) causing physical pain, such as murder, kidnapping, and assault . (There is one interesting exception to this trend, however; see “Computer Fears” on page 13.) Terrorism is a specific type of crime that causes people huge amounts of anxiety. In fact, fear is actually built into the name: the point of terrorism is to cause terror. And it works. According to surveys, terrorist attacks are one of the things Americans fear most. Most crimes are motivated by the desires of the criminal. For example, someone wants money, and so he steals. Someone else wants revenge, and so she hurts another person. Terrorism is different. Terrorists are not trying to get rich, and they have no grudge against a specific person. Instead, their victims are usually chosen at random. The goal is simply to terrify an entire population. Terrorists use political arguments to justify their actions. For example, terrorists on both sides of a conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland murdered innocent civilians for generations. Both groups said their actions were justified because their “side” was being mistreated by the other “side.” Likewise, groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS argue that bombings and mass shootings

Educational Video

Check out this discussion about

why our perceptions of crime don’t match reality.

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Crime and Terrorism

Terrorism has a long history; this poster shows a car bombing by Polish anarchists in 1910.

in America and Europe are legitimate acts of war, because they believe their people are oppressed by the actions of American and European governments. Kids and Fear Kids are particularly vulnerable to fears of crime and terrorism. A lot of this has to do with their stage of development. As kids become more independent, they gradually take steps out into the world on their own. They attend school, and they may take the bus to get there. They visit friends’ houses, and they play on their own in the yard or park. The older kids get, the less oversight they tend to have. Parents are usually nearby , but they may not be watching every

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Understanding Our Fears

Computer Fears Chapman University conducts an annual “Survey of American

Fears.” Right at the top of Americans’ worst fears—up there with terrorism, illness, and going bankrupt—is crime involving computers, such as computer hacking and identity theft. There are a few reasons why we fear computer crimes so much. In recent years, there have been many high-profile “hacks” (officially called “data breaches ”) of big companies, including Target, Sony, several large health- insurance companies, and many more. These hacks have exposed the personal data of hundreds of thousands of people. People worry about computer crime because, indeed, it does happen quite often. And in some cases, the theft of personal information can be extremely damaging and hard to fix. Another factor is media coverage—the press tends to be very interested in hacking stories. For instance, a data breech of the Democratic National Committee was a huge issue in the 2016 presidential election. When people hear a lot about something in the media, they tend to focus on it as a potential threat—even if the threat against them specifically is low. One last thing: computers and computer networks are mysterious to most people. There is something spooky about the idea of evil geniuses who can do some sort of computer

magic in order to steal from regular people. As we see over and over throughout this series, people often fear what they can’t understand. People fear computer crime both because identity theft can be very damaging and because hackers seem mysterious.

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Crime and Terrorism

The Case of the Poisoned Candy You are probably familiar with fears of unsafe Halloween candy. There are lots of stories of terrible people tampering with candy—putting poison or razor blades into chocolate bars and other treats. In fact, the fear is so widespread that most parents won’t let their kids accept homemade treats from strangers. Some parents go even farther, insisting on checking all candy bars by hand before their children are allowed to eat them. Given how many people have this fear, there must be something to it, right? Not necessarily. Poisoned Halloween candy is what’s known as an urban myth : a story that is told repeatedly as if it’s true but without concrete evidence to support it. The small number of illnesses and deaths supposedly caused by Halloween candy have all turned out to be caused by other things. For example, a four-year-old in Toronto died on Halloween in 2001, but her

single moment. These little tastes of independence can be exciting, but kids can also start to sense that they are vulnerable. As kids get older they gradually become more aware of the news. Media stories about crime can have a huge impact on kids’ sense of safety. Kids have active imaginations, and when they hear stories about crime, it’s easy for them to picture the same thing (or worse) happening to them. It’s easy for kids to get overly focused on dramatic events like kidnapping or terrorist attacks, even though those events are very unlikely. If that sounds like something you do, don’t be too hard on yourself. As it turns out, most adults

Research Project Research an urban myth, such as poisoned Halloween candy, “killer clowns,” or some other story that interests you. Use the site snopes.com to find out about the history of the myth and how it spread.