Children's comforting of frightened coviewers - Real and hypothetical television-viewing situations

Children in, first to sixth grade recalled a time they had watched television with someone who became scared, described how (if at all) they comforted the coviewer, and rated other aspects of the viewing situation. Children also described how they would comfort a hypothetical friend whose age (younger peer) and sex (same, opposite) were varied. Finally, they completed a self-report measure of empathy. Comforting messages were coded for their level of sensitivity using a nine-level hierarchy employed by Burleson. As expected empathy was positively related to comforting level in both situations. Comforting level also increased with grade level, but only for the hypothetical situation. Higher level comforting messages were suggested for same-sex peers, but comforting was unaffected by the younger friend's sex. Emotions played a significant role in the real situation, with higher level messages used by less frightened children and offered to more frightened coviewers.