Several studies have shown that one of the main worries among schoolchildren everywhere is the fear of war and nuclear weapons. The present work is an attempt to investigate whether this holds true for Albanian children, whose country is actually politically unstable and potentially threatened by war. We asked 435 Albanian and 265 Swedish children to name their greatest fears. While the results for the Swedish sample paralleled the findings of other studies conducted in Western Europe and the United States, the results for the Albanian children differed considerably from them. These results are discussed against the background of Albania's peculiar history and its prevailing patriarchal traditions, which still have an impact on parental educational styles and on children's development.
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