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The Medical Implications of Nuclear War, Institute of
Medicine. ~ 1986 by the National Academy of Sciences.
National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.
Children's and Adolescents' Perceptions
of the Threat of Nuclear War:
Implications of Recent Studies
WILLIAM R. BEARDSLEE, M.D.
Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
OVERVIEW
Substantive findings on the attitudes of children and adolescents toward
the threat of nuclear war are reviewed. The evidence indicates that many
youngsters are bewildered and perplexed by the threat of nuclear war.
Some are frankly troubled or frightened. They often find out about it
alone, through the media, or from their peers, without help or guidance
from their usual circle of caring adults. Helplessness and a sense of pow-
erlessness, as well as a profound sense of fear about the future, may
accompany the realization. The methodological issues in the findings to
date are discussed, and the implications of these findings are explored.
INTRODUCTION
Increasing concern has been expressed by educators, parents, mental
health professionals, and children themselves about what effects the threat
of nuclear war may have on children. The considerable attention in the
media, the formation of such groups as Educators for Social Responsi-
bility, the development of curricula and programs in response to the need
to educate high school and junior high school students about the nuclear
threat, and the development of children's groups opposed to nuclear war
reflect this concern.
Surprisingly, most work on this question appeared either in the early
1960si-6 or after 1980. The first recent studies started in the late 1970s
413
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414
IMAGES AND RISKS OF NUCLEAR WAR
and indicated that there was concern about the threat of nuclear war in a
substantial number of those high-school-aged youngsters that were sur-
veyed. John Mack and I conducted the first of these studies.7 Our initial
study was an in-depth questionnaire study, partially qualitative, partially
quantitative, that eventually involved 1,100 youngsters from venous parts
of the country. It was undertaken to see whether this was an issue for
youngsters at all. The results strongly indicated that it was.
Most striking were the qualitative responses of youngsters in the Boston
area to open-ended questions administered in 1978. A few of their verbatim
responses indicate the depth of the youngsters' concern.
For example, in response to the question "What does the word nuclear
bring to mind?" some students gave the following answers:
"Big grey clouds, pipes and smokestacks, red waiving lights, dead
wildlife and humans, unnecessary death and violence."
"Danger, death, sadness, corruption, explosion, cancer, children, waste,
bombs, pollution, terrible devaluation of human life . . .
"Stars, planets, space, darkness . . ."
"All that comes to mind is the world's final demise, final kind of
holocaust. "
In response to the question "When did you first become aware of the
nuclear threat?" a student said,
"I believe I was in junior high when I first became aware. Of course
I found it terrifying that every human being in my whole world could be
destroyed by one bomb that our nation had first discovered. The bomb
that every advanced civilization has sought to obtain. To destroy our race,
to destroy people, culture, life on the earth, is essentially the outcome of
the A bomb."
In response to the question "What effects has the threat of nuclear war
had on you?" two students answered as follows:
"I think that unless we do something about nuclear weapons, the world
and the human race may not have much time left."
"In a way it has. It has shown me how stupid some adults can be. If
they know it could easily kill them I have no idea why they support it.
Once in a while it makes me start to think that the end of my life, my
time in life, may not be as far off as I would like it to be, or want."
Altogether, three samples totaling 1,143 students from public and pri-
vate high schools in three cities across the country were given the ques-
tionnaire. The three samples were collected in 1978, 1979, and 1980.
Most of those studied were adolescents and all were in school when
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CHILDREN'S AND ADOLESCENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF NUCLEAR WAR 415
questioned. The initial 1978 questionnaire elicited open-ended essay re-
sponses, while the subsequent two questionnaires had a quantitative for-
mat.
The sampling was not systematic in any standard sociological sense,
but an effort was made to obtain urban and suburban schools and to have
all children in the classroom fill out a questionnaire when any one child
in that classroom was asked to.
Quantitative analysis revealed that there was no uniformity of political
opinion and that very few young people had taken an active position.
However, the responses reflected a profound dis-ease and uncertainty
about the future and a considerable amount of general pessimism. The
majority of youngsters were concerned about at least some aspect of the
threat of nuclear war, and a number were afraid. The respondents were
relatively alone with their fears and not certain what to do. Their primary
informants were the media and schools, not their parents. Other nonsys-
tematic opinion surveys yielded similar findings.8
The results of the study described above must be viewed as preliminary
and hypothesis generating for several reasons. There was no systematic
sampling. The questionnaire focused solely on the nuclear issue rather
than being a more general inquiry about youngsters' attitudes about various
matters, so that the respondents knew specifically what the investigators
were interested in, and this may have affected their responses. There was
no attempt, other than in a qualitative way, to rank order or address the
relative degree of their concern about the nuclear issue to other concerns.
Since 197S, a large number of studies have been conducted. These
address some of the methodological shortcomings of nonsystematic sur-
veys, while they also leave some areas unexplored. In a broad sense, four
different kinds of studies exist which address not only the question of
how many youngsters voice some concern about the issues but also how
important this concern is in their lives. The four kinds of studies are as
follows: (1) systematic survey research, using standard techniques con-
ducted in the United States; (2) in-depth questionnaires which attempt to
address the relative weight of concerns about this issue, as opposed to
other concerns; (3) international studies; (4) in-depth qualitative studies.
Representative studies from each area will be reviewed in order to highlight
the findings, although this review is not intended to be a complete or
exhaustive one of all studies.
SYSTEMATIC SAMPLING
The best evidence about the importance of this issue from a study using
rigorous sampling techniques has been conducted by Jerald Bachman and
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IMAGES AND RISKS OF NUCLEAR WAR
associates. He has presented findings about the threat of nuclear war as
it relates to youths as a part of a study of adolescent attitudes toward the
military and the draft.9
Recently Bachman presented findings from surveys of students in seven
consecutive graduating high school classes 1976-1982. Each yearly sur-
vey was conducted during the spring. In order to sample representatively,
a three-stage probability sampling approach was employed, and through
this approximately 130 public and private high schools from 48 states
were selected from a much larger pool of schools. Between 77 and 85
percent of all the students in the classes selected were studied, and the
total sample size (by year) ranged from 16,662 to 18,924. A series of
questions were asked in the area of monitoring the future. One question
asked was: "Of all the problems facing the nation today, how often do
you worry about each of the following?" One possible choice was chance
of nuclear war. There has been a steady rise in the percentage of those
who worried about the nuclear threat. In 1976, 19.9 percent of male seniors
never worried about it, while in 1982, only 4.6 percent of the males never
worried. Similarly, in 1976, 7.2 percent of the male seniors said they
worried about it often, while in 1982, 31.2 percent did. Female high
school seniors showed a similar dramatic change over the seven-year
period. Another statement in the series was: "Nuclear or biological an-
nihilation will probably be the fate of all mankind within my lifetime."
There was a steadily increasing trend for both boys (from 23.1 to 35.3
percent over the seven-year interval) and girls (from 20.2 to 36.0 percent)
to agree or mostly agree with this statement.
It is important to understand these findings in the context of the Michigan
Survey data* as a whole. in While there is an increase in those who agree
with the statement about nuclear or biological annihilation, nonetheless,
in 1982, for example, slightly more than 15 percent of all high school
seniors indicated that they disagreed with this statement. Similarly, the
majority of seniors surveyed in 1982 responded that they agreed or mostly
agreed with the statement: "The human race has come through tough
times before and will do so again."
The larger study provides clear evidence on another point of interest.
Are youngsters from less affluent homes or of minority group status con-
cerned about the threat of nuclear war? In the 1982 data, seniors in high
school not planning to attend college had consistently more pessimistic
responses than those planning to attend college. As those who attend
college, in part, come from families with higher social status, this argues
*I am indebted to David Beardslee, Oakland University, Rochester, Mich., for a
review of and insight into the Michigan Survey data.
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CHILDREN'S AND ADOLESCENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF NUCLEaR WAR 417
against the notion that this is a class-bound phenomenon. In terms of race
in this survey, 46 percent of the black seniors agreed or mostly agreed
with the statement, "nuclear or biological annihilation will probably be
the fate of all mankind within my lifetime," as compared with only 34
percent of the white seniors. Fundamentally, these survey research data
show few class differences in response to worrying about a variety of
problems and no evidence that less affluent youngsters are less concerned.
Standard opinion survey research involving adolescent populations has
also confirmed that this is a significant issue for a large number of young-
sters. As one example from a number of surveys, Gallup1l reported on a
representative national cross section of 514 teenagers, age 13-18, con-
ducted from April to June in 1984. About half (51 percent) indicated that
it is somewhat likely that a nuclear war will be started during their life-
times, and 15 percent of the group reported that it is very likely to happen
during their- lifetimes. Of this group of teenagers, 49 percent said that the
possibility of nuclear war has had some influence on how they plan for
the future, and 25 percent described this influence as serious, in terms of
thinking or planning about the future.
As another example, Offer and colleagues interviewed 356 high school
juniors from the Chicago area during 1983-1984 as part of an ongoing
comprehensive study of adolescent development. Respondents were both
white and black and covered the range of the middle class: lower, middle,
and upper. When asked a general question about problems facing the
world, about one-fifth of the students voiced concern about nuclear issues
(war and energy). Those who worried about nuclear issues did not have
a specific profile-that is, they were not different from the rest of the
sample with respect to gender, race, or socioeconomic status; nor did this
group differ on measures of idealism, coping abilities, drug abuse, or
delinquency. 12
RELATIVE WEIGHT OF NUCLEAR WAR
VERSUS OTHER ISSUES
John Goldenring and Ronald Doctor13 l4 have studied a large group of
adolescents in southern California with a questionnaire which they de-
veloped to address the question of the relative weight of concern about
the threat of nuclear war. Questions about the threat of nuclear war were
embedded among questions about other representative worries of adoles-
cents. Youngsters were asked to rank each of 20 main possible worries
in terms of four degrees of worry: not worried at all, worried a little,
moderately worried, very worried. In a separate, later section of the ques-
tionnaire, there were direct inquiries about the threat of nuclear war and
the possibility of survival. This questionnaire was administered to 913
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IMAGES AND RISKS OF NUCLEAR WAR
students in May 1983 in the San Jose and Los Angeles areas (ages 11-
19) representing grades 7 to 12 with a wide range of ethnic backgrounds.
The sample was largely middle and lower income families. The highest
rated worry was about parents' death, and the second highest rated worry
was getting bad grades. The third overall worry was the possibility of
nuclear war, with 58 percent responding that they were worried or very
worried about the possibility. When the students were to indicate their
top 5 worries out of a list of 20, concern about parental death remained
highest, and concern about nuclear war moved up to second.
Of those surveyed, 33 percent considered nuclear war often, and more
than half thought a nuclear war between the United States and the USSR
would occur in their lifetimes. Despite the high levels of concern, 51
percent admitted they never spoke to their parents about nuclear war, and
39.4 percent had talked with them about it only a few times. The chief
sources of information were television, school, and newspapers, with
parents much less frequently being a fourth source. Surprisingly, 42 per-
cent reported that they felt they had not been given sufficient information
about nuclear issues in school. Youths who were most worried in the
sample showed significantly better scores on a series of statements that
measured self-esteem and adjustment. This group had also talked more
often with their parents about nuclear war, and despite their increased
levels of concern, they were more hopeful that nuclear war could be
prevented than were their less overtly worried peers. These findings were
replicated with a sample of 250 southern California suburban adolescents.
Although not based on a national sample, Goldenring and Doctor's find-
ings substantiate the earlier nonsystematic observations.
INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
The last few years have witnessed a remarkable growth in the study of
young people's attitudes in a variety of countries. This review is not
exhaustive but will indicate the breadth of studies conducted.
Finland
In a methodologically carefully conducted study in Finland, Solantaus
and colleagues,~5 ~6 using standard sampling techniques, surveyed 6,851
youngsters, age 12-18 years. The study was carried out as part of a larger
study of health habits, and the youngsters were thus not questioned only
on war and peace. A questionnaire was administered by mail, and the
response rate was 81 percent. A total of 108 items formed the questionnaire
and concerned living conditions, family, school, health, health habits,
exercise, and psychosomatic symptoms. Respondents were asked for the
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CHILDREN'S AD ADOLESCENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF NUCLEI Wow 419
three main hopes that they had for their own lives and their futures and
also the three main fears that they had, and then the experience of war
was investigated by eight structured questions.
Of all fears, fear of war was by far the most frequent, with 81 percent
listing war as one of their three main fears. In terms of the corresponding
question about hopes, hopes concerning work and employment were ranked
first, and hopes for peace were expressed by about a third of the respon-
dents. Solantaus remarked that it is paradoxical that while as many as
four out of five respondents expressed fear of war, hope for peace was
expressed by only a third. She offered the speculation that peace may be
an empty concept for young people, meaning mostly an absence of war.
Solantaus noted that girls' reactions to the threat of war seemed stronger
than boys' and speculated that boys are socialized to expect to see not the
whole picture but only the positive aspects of combat. In terms of social
class, the threat of war was in the minds of respondents of all social
classes. Young people who were confident about their own contribution
to the prevention of war had more anxiety about war than those who did
not see the possibility of change. A small group reported that it had an
effect on their daily functioning.
Canada
Sommers and associates ~7 completed a questionnaire survey in Toronto,
Canada, in 1984. They used a questionnaire with 103 items in which the
nuclear questions were embedded in other questions about other areas of
concern in order to minimize bias. It was administered to over a thousand
students in six public schools in metropolitan Toronto. A wide range of
ages and sexes were represented, as well as a wide range of social classes.
The students were equally distributed over grades 9 to 13. The authors
caution that this sample is urban in nature, has somewhat of a represen-
tation of high social class and educational level in two sections of the
sample, and has a large representation of immigrants. Students were asked
to state their three strongest hopes and their three greatest worries. These
were then coded into 11 categories following the scheme developed by
Solantausi4 is in Finland. Students were then asked to rate nine possible
hopes and nine possible worries in terms of how important they were,
and then they were asked about three future-oriented domains: unem-
ployment, job and career plans, and threat of nuclear war.
In terms of the open-ended questions, the highest percentage of students
mentioned work and employment first (41 percent) and war and peace
second (29 percent). A total of 51 percent mentioned war and peace as
one of their three major worries, the highest rating of any category. On
multichoice questioning, 63 percent of the students indicated that nuclear
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IMAGES AND RISKS OF NUCLEAR WAR
war was a very important issue or worry for them, as it was ranked second
out of the nine possible worries, the first being parents' death.
Ten percent of the sample reported thoughts about nuclear war daily.
Thirty percent reported having some thoughts at least twice a week. Sim-
ilarly, 8 percent reported fear or anxiety about nuclear war almost every
day and 24 percent reported these feelings once or twice a week or every
day. The majority of students reported that they had no influence in
preventing a nuclear attack, which contrasted with their attitudes on job
and career plans. They further perceived that their parents had little in-
fluence on preventing a nuclear war. In comparing unemployment, job
plans, and threat of nuclear war, in terms of being discussed at home,
nuclear war was talked about least. Television and newspapers were the
primary source of information on this topic for those surveyed. Faced with
the threat of nuclear war, 24 percent admit some or a lot of desire to live
only for today and forget about the future. Surprisingly, 16 percent had
sought counseling or advice for worries about nuclear war at school, and
9 percent sought counseling or advice for worries about nuclear war outside
of school.
The authors compared the groups who reported daily fear with the group
identified as "all others." The groups did not differ in terms of sex,
Canadian birth, or whether their parents had been active. They did differ
in being younger and having lower social economic status. Interestingly,
students who were more anxious and fearful about nuclear war also thought
more about their personal future. In addition, they felt that they were
more likely to have some personal influence on the political process. The
fears thus were not associated with feelings of helplessness, but with a
greater sense of personal efficacy. Surprisingly, the authors conclude,
"The data further suggests that those who say they are not fearful and
anxious at all, may also be at high risk for difficulties. It is in this group
that the students express the most helplessness and show the least interest
in planning for their own future."6
New Zealand
Gray and Valentines have reported about the knowledge and attitudes
of New Zealand's secondary school children toward nuclear war based
on a survey of 876 fifth, sixth, and seventh form students. This ques-
tionnaire dealt solely with the nuclear issue. A number of questions dealt
with factual information, and others dealt with attitudes about it. Alto-
gether, 90 percent of the sample had seen, heard, or read something about
nuclear weapons, largely from television and other forms of the media.
Half (50 percent) of the sample thought that the situation at present would
deteriorate through more armaments or world war in the future; very few
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CHILDREN'S AD ADOLESCENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF NUCLEI Wit 421
were hopeful about disarmament as a realistic possibility. Students said
that they did not feel they knew enough about nuclear weapons.
Sweden
In Sweden, Holmborg and Bergstrom have studied a sample of 917
adolescents, age 13 to 15, with the help of the Swedish Institute for
Opinion. They used an instrument that was adapted from Goldenring and
Doctor's~3 ~4 questionnaire, as the questions about nuclear war were
embedded in general concerns about teens' worries. The number one
worry, both in mean score and percentile ranking, was nuclear war, with
42 percent listing it as their greatest worry. This was higher than the score
in the study of American youth by Goldenring and Doctor. i3 ~4 The death
of a parent was listed second. A total of 24 percent reported thinking
about a nuclear war between once a week and daily, and 26 percent thought
a nuclear war would definitely or probably occur during their lifetime.
Only 17 percent of the sample felt that adults were very worried, and 46
percent thought that adults were very little concerned. Of the teenagers
surveyed, 67 percent stated that they received insufficient information or
none at all, and 63 percent of those sampled seldom or never talked to
anyone about their worries. Two-thirds of the sample thought that the
USSR, the United States, and Europe would not survive a nuclear war.
There was some optimism in that three-fourths of the teenagers showed
faith that various actions could do something to prevent a nuclear war.
International Survey Research
The findings of these more detailed studies are supplemented by standard
survey research findings. For example, in 1981 the Institute of Peace
Research at the University of Groningen in The Netherlands20 surveyed
13- and 14-year-olds in Groningen. The majority of the children believed
a nuclear war would occur and would destroy their city, and almost half
thought that they would not survive. In West Germany, public opinion
polls show that approximately 50 percent of the young people between
the ages of 18 and 24 expect the world to be destroyed by nuclear war.
Similarly, in Britain, in 1983, a representative sample of teenagers, age
15-18, was surveyed, and 52 percent thought it was either extremely or
quite likely that nuclear war would occur within their lifetimes.22
USSR-United States
Eric Chivian and associates23 have, in collaboration with Russian phy-
sicians, studied Soviet youth with a questionnaire very similar to that used
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IMAGES AND RISKS OF NUCLEAR WAR
by Goldenring and Doctorl3 l4 and compared the findings to their findings
in the United States. Studies were conducted in 1983 in two pioneer camps
for youngsters. One was a camp for children whose parents worked at a
domestic airport, and the other was a camp for children who had been
selected as outstanding in one or another respect, such as academic per-
formance, athletics, or citizenship. The youngsters were interviewed, sin-
gly or in groups, and were also surveyed with a questionnaire. Approximately
50 young people were interviewed, and 293 youngsters completed the
questionnaire. In terms of questionnaire responses, the greatest worry of
the Soviet sample of youngsters was nuclear war, as almost 90 percent
of the Soviet children regarded the prospect of nuclear war as disturbing
or very disturbing. The Soviet sample was significantly more concerned
about global issues, such as world overpopulation, world hunger, and
pollution, while the American sample had significantly more concern about
family and personal matters. Strikingly, the Soviet youth were more op-
timistic than the American youth that a nuclear war would not occur during
their lifetimes. In the Soviet group, three times as many youngsters felt
positive about the possibility of preventing nuclear war than the American
students did (75 compared with 25 percent). In general, Chivian and
associates observed from their data that Soviet children reported that they
learned about the facts of nuclear war earlier than American children and
appeared to have consistently more detailed and accurate information than
their American counterparts. There also appeared to be more discussion
in families than in the United States. The Soviet youngsters were more
pessimistic about the possibilities of survival if war occurred. Virtually
all the Soviet children had taken part in officially organized peace edu
. . . .
cation activities.
QUALITATIVE STUDIES
While quantitative published reports of relatively large numbers of sub-
jects provide important evidence, so do qualitative studies.
There is increasing anecdotal evidence that at least some children under
the age of 11 are seriously concerned about the possibility of nuclear war.
Such evidence consists of videotaped discussions with children in public
schools, as carried out by Chivian and Snow;24 anecdotal case reports
from clinical material, as reported by Stoddard and Mack;2s and an in-
creasing body of work from primary school teachers who have dealt with
these subjects with their students.26 27 These qualitative investigations have
established that at least some children under age 11 are concerned. It is
undoubtedly true that this group represents a smaller percentage than those
adolescents who are concerned. The meaning of this is even less well
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CHILDREN'S AD DESCENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF NUCLEI We 423
known than the meaning of results with adolescents. No data from a
developmental point of view exist.
In terms of qualitative interview studies, Goodman et al.28 conducted
a pilot interview study with adolescents in the metropolitan Boston area.
While such a small sample in no sense can be called representative, and
although the youngsters were not selected because of their view of the
nuclear question, interviews with these youngsters give an even more
vivid and detailed sense of the meaning of the threat of nuclear war in
their lives.
Although some students reported that they try not to dwell on it, while
others claimed that they worry about it constantly, all of the 31 adolescents
asserted that the existence of nuclear weapons impinges on their lives on
a daily basis. They reported that they are reminded of the arms race when
they read the papers or watch television and that there is a constant worry
in the back of their minds. These teenagers say they are afraid every day
that nuclear annihilation will come, if not right away, then in a relatively
short time. Some have planned to move away from the cities because of
the threat; a few have decided not to have children, and they say that the
threat of nuclear war has forced them to live more in the present.
Most of these youngsters do not advocate unilateral disarmament and,
given the current international political situation, feel that some nuclear
weapons are necessary. However, a deep discouragement, a sense of things
being out of control, pervades their perceptions of the arms race; they
draw no sense of security or safety from the presence of the weapons.
One student explained his helplessness this way:
I don't have the power to control, to say whether to have bombs or not, I don't
have the control to say whether we make nuclear weapons or not . . . I don't
know what kind of thing would happen, but at any minute there goes the bomb.
It scares me a lot, this kind of emptiness, this kind of hollowness, like being in
a tunnel and having to fight and nothing is around you and you're clawing at
everything trying to find something. That's the kind of feeling.
From quite a different perspective, Robert Coles29 has reported some
in-depth interviews with youngsters about the threat of nuclear war. These
lasted several sessions over a period of time, as opposed to the interviews
of Goodman and associates, which were one session each. His descriptions
are eloquent; his conclusions are that it is largely, if not entirely, young
people whose parents are upper class and who are involved in the nuclear
movement who are deeply concerned about this. He specifically argues
that lower class youth are not concerned and gives several anecdotal
illustrations. He also raises the question that some youngsters may be
putting on or pretending to be concerned about this issue and that, in any
case, youngsters keep on with their usual activities in spite of this worry.
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IMAGES AND RISKS OF NUCLEAR WAR
No description is given in Coles' report of how these youngsters were
selected, how many were interviewed, and, from the number interviewed,
how many were selected to be reported. Neither the length of the rela-
tionship nor the way that the interviews were described to the children is
given. Nonetheless, Coles' work emphasizes the importance of in-depth
interviews over time and of understanding the full context of the child's
experience in trying to understand the impact of the threat of nuclear war.
DISCUSSION
All of the quantitative studies discussed above concur in demonstrating
that a significant number of youngsters report serious concern about the
threat of nuclear war. Estimates of the percentage of those seriously con-
cerned in the United States vary. Evidence from Bachman9 and others
suggests that many more young people are seriously concerned about this
threat than they were a few years ago. It is clear that young people in a
number of different countries in several parts of the world share these
concerns.
Youngsters are primarily made aware of the threat of nuclear war through
the media; this is sometimes supplemented by information in school. They
report that they do not discuss these matters with their parents for the
most part and often are alone with their fears.
The meaning of these attitudes in the context of the youngsters' lives
has been much less well investigated, and some critiques of the work have
appeared.29-3~ Qualitative studies, such as the initial study by Mack and
myself,7 our interview study,28 videotapes of youngsters, 24 family inter-
views,32 and educators who have talked with classes about this issue,27 33
all suggest that the concerns for some young people are serious, and major,
and are talked about with eloquence. Coles' interviews present a different
picture, with much more class-limited areas of concern. However, the
survey research of Bachman and associates9 ~0 argues strongly against the
fact that concern about the future or worries about the fate of the world
are class-bound phenomena. The reported seriousness of the youngsters'
concerns is substantiated by studies such as those of Goldenring and
Doctor. i3 ~4
Methodological Issues
The study and understanding of the impact of the threat of nuclear war
on the lives of children and adolescents is in an initial stage. This must
be expected given the fact that so little work has been done over the last
20 years in this area and that so little research time and funding have been
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CHILDREN'S kD ~OLESCE=S' PERCEPTIONS OF NUCLEI We 425
directed to it. Perhaps most telling is the fact that there are no clear
analogous areas of inquiry from other studies in social science that can
serve as models. We have not begun to fully understand the impact on
young people of attitudes and beliefs about the current society, or about
their future in it in general, and so at this point it is impossible to parcel
out and describe quantitatively and definitively the effect on young people
of these attitudes toward the threat of nuclear war alone. Moreover, there
are unique characteristics of this issue that make it difficult to study, as
will be discussed below. Understanding these difficulties should assist
further research, but it should also give a broader perspective on why so
little work has been done.8
In terms of the specific limitations of the current studies that have been
described above, while questions about the representativeness of the sam-
ples have been adequately addressed in the survey studies, for example
in Bachman's efforts,9 they have been less well addressed in some of the
international studies. Goldenring and Doctor's impressive findings ~4 are
based on systematic sampling, but in a very limited number of school
systems in one area of the country, and thus require replication in other
areas. The use of in-depth interviews and questionnaires in the United
States and elsewhere have not yet been done on any serious systematic
sampling basis.
Given the difficulties of translation and the immense cultural differences
between countries, quantitative comparison of youngsters in different,
non-English-speaking countries to English-speaking youngsters, or to one
another, must be viewed at this point as hypothesis generating rather than
as definitive. However, the finding of serious concern in a substantial
percentage of children in all countries surveyed is not called into question.
As yet, no study of the impact of nuclear war on children and adolescents
has demonstrated any serious psychopathological effects that have resulted
from the threat, nor has any serious large-scale study even attempted that.
There are a number of compelling individual anecdotal reports about
distress25 34 resulting from the threat of nuclear war, but there is no quan-
titative evidence on this question. More broadly, there is little evidence
about the effects of the attitudes of these youngsters on actual behavior.
They do, indeed, report that they are worried and that such worry has an
effect, but studies of the effect have not been conducted.
Little is known about the development over time of attitudes of children
and adolescents toward the nuclear threat, although some data are available
about the development of attitudes by youngsters toward war in general.35
There is evidence of differing perspectives when college students are
compared with older adults.36 Recent studies of the responses of youngsters
to war situations and extreme environmental stress37 may offer some
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IMAGES AND RISKS OF NUCLEAR WAR
relevant analogies to approaches to understanding these impacts in general.
From a research perspective, understanding the impact of the nuclear
threat is complicated by the fact that the issue is only one of several
complex, rapidly changing forces operating in our modern industrial so-
ciety. Some of the attitudes and concerns that have emerged from inter-
views questioning young people about the threat of nuclear war are pessimism
about the future, fear, hopelessness, and the need to live in the present.
These psychological phenomena probably are related to other factors as
well. Such factors are the growth of technology itself, the changing pat-
terns of family structure, broad disillusionment with the political system
as evidenced by decreasing rates of voter participation, declining American
prestige at home and abroad, and economic woes. It is difficult in studies
to separate the role of the nuclear threat from these other social problems,
but it is important to do so insofar as it is possible.
Thus more research is needed. It should build on the existing research
and be specifically addressed to defining the areas in which the impact of
nuclear war influences the youngsters' attitudes and behavior and should
be informed by the need to attempt to separate out the complexity of the
factors involved. There is a need for detailed longitudinal prospective
studies in systematically chosen samples, including evaluation of the in-
fluence of the development, the vicissitudes, the changes, and the effects
at various developmental epochs of awareness of the threat of nuclear war
and concern about it on youngsters. Similarly, as Coles has suggested,29
attention to the context of the children's and adolescents' lives in relation
to this concern is necessary. Related to this, surely, is the investigation
of the development of possible differences between young women and
young men in their attitudes. It would be especially useful to have in-
depth interviews and questionnaires in the same samples followed over
time.
Surprisingly, almost no attention has been directed to studying what
enables youngsters to cope well with the threat of nuclear war, perhaps
because it is difficult to define what successful coping is. However, at
the least, in two areas related to successful coping much more work is
needed. The first of these is a more detailed description of how parents
and children interact about this issue and what effects, if any, such in-
teractions have on the youngsters. Initial work indicates that this is a rich
and potentially rewarding area for exploration.32 The second is the sys-
tematic evaluation of educational efforts to date, particularly the various
curricula that have been developed. The intriguing initial findings of Gol-
denring and Doctor,~3 ~4 Sommers and associates,~7 and others38 suggest
that being better informed and aware is in no sense maladaptive and may
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CHILDREN'S AD ADOLESCENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF NUCLEI Win 427
be associated with good functioning. This also should be replicated, and
then efforts should be directed to understanding it further. Zweigenhaft39
has presented preliminary evidence indicating a positive response to an
educational program. This also needs much fuller investigation.
It would be incorrect to conclude, however, that all that is needed is
more research, or that we do not know much about this area because there
are some methodological limitations in what we do know or because more
systematic research is needed. In a few years, we have learned a substantial
amount in several areas, and that process is important and has implications
both for research and for dealing with youth about this issue. These areas
are the characteristics of the nuclear issue, the feelings engendered in
those who become involved, and the implications for education.
Characteristics of the Nuclear Issue
The nuclear issue is an issue which reflects intense conflict among
experts. It has provoked a polarization of political viewpoints. From a
research perspective, this makes it difficult to obtain the necessary distance
and objectivity to evaluate its effect fully and to understand young people's
concerns. In terms of dealing with young people, it is also important to
recognize that there are distinct characteristics of this issue that set it apart
from other social and political problems. It is important to be aware of
these in conceptualizing the task young people face in understanding this
issue.
The nature of the threat of nuclear war is at the same time abstract,
outside of the personal experience of adolescents, and yet overwhelming
in its horror and scale. Only twice has a nuclear weapon actually been
used, on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. At no time has a large-scale nuclear
war taken place. There is substantial disagreement among experts on what
the consequences of such a war would be. To contemplate the threat of
nuclear war requires an act of the imagination which is difficult, if not
impossible, for most adults. It requires young people to venture into an
unknown and uncertain territory, into which many of the adults around
them will not travel.
There has been an understandable though unfortunate tendency on the
part of adults and society as a whole to keep these matters secret. 40 Nuclear
weapons were initially developed during World War II, when debate was
not possible. The prevailing attitude since then has been that further weapon
development was largely a matter best left to scientific experts. It is not
correct simply to attribute this silence to governmental policy. The subject
is so painful, frightening, and seemingly technically impenetrable that
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IMAGES AND RISKS OF NUCLEAR WAR
most adults have chosen to deal with it by denial and avoidance. 4~-43 Until
recently there has been virtually a total lack of public discussion of nuclear
weapons issues.
Feelings Engendered in Those Who Become Involved:
A Painful Awareness
To work with the subject of nuclear annihilation is painful and difficult
for everyone researcher, clinician, parent, or child. To consider seri-
ously the possibility of nuclear war is to contemplate the destruction of
life as it exists on the earth. It means the end not only of one's own life,
but of the lives of everyone we love, indeed of all relationships which
exist, possibly forever. It is a horrifying idea, the vision of a holocaust
unlike anything the planet has known. Moreover, it is not clear that any
one citizen can do very much by him- or herself about the problem, so
that there is an attendant helplessness as one confronts its reality. Thinking
that a nuclear war will occur obviates thinking about the future.
For adults, thinking about children and nuclear war is a particularly
difficult task. Children one's own or anyone else's are far more vul-
nerable than adults to the effects of nuclear war. Their futures' are poten-
tially longer; their own children are yet to be born. Their genes, bones,
and other tissues are more susceptible to the effects of radiation.
For all of us, another part of the difficulty in achieving full awareness
of the nuclear issue is the pain of realizing that one is potentially both
victim and perpetrator of nuclear violence: victim because there is so little
control over the weapons; perpetrator because those of us who are U.S.
or Soviet citizens are members of countries that are spending huge amounts
in tax dollars to build instruments of destruction whose sole possible use
is to annihilate large portions of the human race. It is difficult for anyone
to think about these matters, let alone know how to talk to or deal with
young people about them. Beyond this, it is disturbing to think that the
threat of nuclear war in and of itself might be having an impact on our
children's development. Furthermore, the subject itself, precisely because
it is so painful and yet so politically controversial, is inherently divisive.
I do not wish to overdramatize the problem but to raise an issue which
is something like countertransference in psychotherapy and psychoanal-
ysis, the deeper thoughts and feelings which are evoked in the clinician
by the case material before him. Special attention to these feelings has
proved necessary in certain situations, such as dealing with patients with
cancer or survivors of the Holocaust. 44 46 Such troubling emotions provide
one of the major reasons that so little work has been done in this area,
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CHILDREN'S AD ~O~SCE=S' PERCEPTIONS OF NUCLEI We 429
but also provide experience in determining the need for the kind of help
and education that young people need.
IMPLICATIONS
The Nature of Young People's Experience and the
Need for Education
The presence of nuclear weapons and the threat of nuclear war are major
realities in our society today and will continue to be so in the future.
Regardless of whether the percentage of youngsters seriously concerned
at present is 30 or 40 or 60 percent, this represents a very large number
of youngsters. That number is likely to increase. The data to date strongly
indicate that young people are not receiving systematic education and open
discussion about this immensely complex and difficult issue. Those that
are concerned primarily find out about it through the media, and they are
deeply troubled by what they find out. They are alone with their fears.
It is certainly true that this issue of the immense destructiveness of
nuclear weapons and the possibility of the destruction of the entire world
is a crucial issue and must remain in the forefront of the issues considered
in our democratic society. As yet, such full consideration generally has
not taken place in the United States.
In order for the democratic process to operate with regard to this issue,
or any other, it is essential that citizens be informed and express their
opinions. This issue has not drawn citizen participation, unlike many other
issues, because it is so painful and difficult and because of the sense of
powerlessness and helplessness it engenders. It is necessary to educate
young people about this issue so that they can participate fully in the
political process.
The usual media presentation, whether print or visual, is a partial and
incomplete way for youngsters to become educated about this issue. Most
media presentations are not systematic or general discussions but are news
items, focused on the particular subject of the day. They are often visually
dramatic. This does not provide any systematic overview of the problems
of nuclear issues; nor does it transmit to young people any sense of how
to deal with nuclear issues, how to discuss them with others, or how to
understand them. The exception to this are media presentations specifically
focused on education, and some of these have been quite helpful. Beyond
the media, most areas in which the nuclear area is touched upon in fiction,
television drama, videogames of destruction, and so forth, are also partial
and incomplete presentations at best. The way youngsters become aware
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IMAGES AND RISKS OF NUCLEAR WAR
of the nuclear issues contributes to their helplessness and hopelessness.
I have dwelt at length on the complexities of the issue and on the
feelings engendered in those concerned with it because I think these are
the issues that any citizen must wrestle with in coming to grips with the
nuclear issue. I also believe that any young person in adolescence who is
coming to grips with the nuclear issue must also wrestle with these matters,
and they cannot be expected to do so alone. Youngsters must have help
in doing so. As a psychiatrist, I am particularly aware of the workings of
the mind, or inner processes, that accompany outward actions and changes
in behavior It is essential that some attention be made to these inner
processes or that people work through the fears and implications of the
threat of nuclear war so that we can deal with young people about this
threat.
There is a great need for more systematic education. The work carried
out to date gives us a clear idea of what kind of education is needed. I
think there are two issues in education: what the content should be and
to whom it should be directed. This education should be directed to those
young people who have become aware of the issue and who are womed
about it. I think, more broadly, there is a need for all adolescents to have
some education about this issue so that they can be introduced to it. With
regard to the content, education for youth should be systematic, not partial
or incomplete. Partial accounts are frightening and may turn youth away.
It is essential that young people not be left alone with their fears. It is
essential that they make contact with others who are willing to hear them
and to share their concerns. Education must take place in a context, that
is, in a relationship which allows back and forth questioning and which
also takes place over time. The context may be provided by school, media
presentations with follow-up discussions, parents, doctors, educators, or
others. What is necessary for those providing the education is knowledge
of the issue, sensitivity to the inner processes of working through the
painful feelings engendered, and a willingness to try to come to grips with
what the youngsters are voicing.
This means that people doing the educating must have learned to deal
with the issue themselves to some extent. It is no accident that the Edu-
cators for Social Responsibility program, under the leadership of Roberta
Snow in Boston, was developed from a program in the Brookline Public
Schools for Teaching History in Ourselves, which dealt with the question
of the Holocaust.33 Teachers found that they could not teach students
about the Holocaust, without some preparation and support for themselves,
because it is so horrifying an historical subject. Likewise, teachers have
found that such preparation is necessary for teaching students about the
threat of nuclear war. Similarly, it has been recommended to parents and
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CHILDREN'S AND ADOLESCENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF NUCLEAR WAR 431
mental health professionals that it is necessary for them to work on their
own feelings about the issue before they deal with it with others. ~ 47 These
are examples of how those who have worked in the area have had to deal
with the issue themselves first.
The most important component of education is making youngsters aware
that they are not powerless, that their actions are important and that they
do make a difference on this issue, as on other issues in a democracy.
From a psychological point of view, the central psychological concomi-
tants of partial and incomplete awareness of the nuclear issue are help-
lessness and hopelessness, which often lead to inactivity, to paralysis. It
is essential to counteract these feelings through education to help young
people become aware that they are not powerless. Indeed, from a psy-
chological point of view, some corrective focus is necessary for the sense
of helplessness engendered by this issue, and action can be very beneficial.
By action, of course, I do not mean getting involved in political action
per se, but rather being educated, talking with others. coming to grins
with the issue in an inner sense.
Concern with young people's attitudes is not an idle, speculative, or
irrelevant matter. I believe it is likely that the declining involvement of
youth in the political process is in part related to the perception that the
threat of nuclear war is frightening and that little can be done about it,
so involvement is useless. Yankelovich,48 Offer, 49 and others have argued
that the current generation of adolescents is considerably less hopeful and
more pessimistic than previous ones and that this is not confined to any
one social class. While it is difficult to quantify and neatly parcel out the
relative effects of these various forces that lead to this pessimism, the
nuclear threat and the immense amounts of energy and money expended
on the nuclear arms race is a fundamental part of our society and surely
contributes substantially to an overall sense of hopelessness and pessi-
mism.
HOPE AND THE FUTURE
Nuclear war is not inevitable. The actions of individuals and groups
are not insignificant or unimportant in trying to prevent a nuclear war.
While we may differ enormously about whether more weapons or fewer
will more successfully prevent a nuclear war, we agree on the need for
its prevention.
As M. B. Smith has commented, 50 it is the responsibility of one gen-
eration to be able to transmit a vision of the future to the next. I am deeply
concerned that our understanding of the nuclear issue and its impact on
youth suggest that it weakens or diminishes the vision of hope for the
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IMAGES AND RISKS OF NUCl:FAR WAR
future of a substantial number of youngsters. It is, after all, Sue that the
prevention of nuclear war rests not only on our current generation, on
ourselves, but also on our children's generation, on them. They will have
to make this a central issue of their lives. This can only occur when they
are fully informed and carefully introduced to the issue, supported in their
understanding of it, and then willing to take action. This can occur only
when they have a vision, a hope for the future, which includes the belief
that nuclear war can be prevented and that their actions have an effect.
This must be the central aim of our educational efforts.
NOTES
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'2Offer, D., E. Ostrov, and K. I. Howard. 1986. Normal adolescents' concern with
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~3Goldenring, J. M., and R. M. Doctor. 1983. Adolescent concerns about the threat of
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
nuclear issue
