Children’s perceptions of negative events in Northern Ireland: A ten year study

This study examines changes in Northern Irish children’s perceptions of negative events over ten years. Ten year old children’s perceptions of potentially distressing situations were obtained from two groups of children in 1983 and 1994 using a 25 item self-report measure. The children’s perceptions of the events are contrasted across time and also comparisons between socioeconomic and religious groups are made. The comparison shows that the children’s perceptions of the events remains relatively constant across time, with certain events being consistently viewed as the most stressful and least stressful across time and between groups. Comparison of religious and socioeconomic groups suggests that working class and Roman Catholic children in Northern Ireland frequently rate negative events as more stressful than others in their cohort.