KEY POINTS:
Scary movies and TV programmes are responsible for almost one-third of fearful night-time thoughts experienced by young people, an Australian survey has found.
New results from a large survey of Victorian children analysed common triggers for bed-time fears and found that the mass media, mainly cinema and television, is largely responsible.
The study, presented at an international sleep conference in Cairns, showed that 29 per cent of 511 kids aged eight to 16 took their fear trigger directly from the media.
About 15 per cent linked their fears to a traumatic event, like a grandparent's death or bullying at school, and 18 per cent seemed to mimic fears felt by a parent or sibling.
For about 35 per cent of kids, parents were inadvertently fuelling their fears by reinforcing them when their child got upset, the Monash University researchers found.
Lead researcher Dr Jocelynne Gordon said two-thirds of the sample reported scary thoughts after bed time, including about half of 16-year-olds.
A fear of intruders was most common, followed by a fear of noises and then bad dreams, according to previous findings. Affected kids often resisted going to bed and had disturbed sleep.
One-third of children said they had not told anyone about their troubled thoughts, a figure Dr Gordon says reiterates the role of parents in helping to stem the problem.
"Parents should be discerning about what their children watch because they may be taking frightening images to bed with them," she said.
"And it's important that children are educated in being media savvy so they know how to critically evaluate information and understand it rather than fear it."
She warned parents to take care how they react to their child's fears.
"Children need encouragement and comfort when they get scared but you must be careful not to have positive rewards for feeling that way."
Her poster, presented at worldsleep07, suggests parents set clear routines, strategies and boundaries to manage the problem.
- AAP
All about sleep
* What: Worldsleep07, the fifth congress of top sleep research and sleep medicine experts
* Key sessions: Circadian, sleeping in children, sleep biology, sleep mechanisms
* Web: worldsleep07.com
