Children recruited for research into phobias

Researchers are recruiting 300 children aged seven to 10 for a study on how fears develop.

A University of Surrey team will investigate how fears and phobias are passed on from adults to children.

Research fellow Dr Jenni Kӓhkӧnen said: "We are looking at childhood fears more closely and why some children seem to have more, or less, of a disposition to develop fears in this way."

The university is looking for children and their parents to take part in the research, which involves tasks including a climbing wall, slackline and "animal-based computer activities".

The research will take place at the university's campus in Guildford and participants can sign up at the university's UFO Lab website.

Kӓhkӧnen said fears "often develop" in childhood.

"We know that fears are often passed down through families, developing as children become more aware of the fears of those around them and learn related beliefs and behaviours from them," she said.

According to the NHS, the definition of a phobia is "an overwhelming and debilitating fear of an object, place, situation, feeling or animal".

They also develop when "a person has an exaggerated or unrealistic sense of danger about a situation or object".

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