[Psychological reflections by adolescents on the atomic threat].

Abstract

The results are focussed on the three most important wishes and fears of 247 adolescents aged 14 years whose development is being followed from birth in the framework of the Rostock Longitudinal Study. The peace/war problem occupies a central position in the thinking of adolescents today. However there are no indications that the individual perception of and reflection on the nuclear threat impair psychic development nor is there any relation between political fears and the anxiety trait. The extension of personal wishes and fears to broader fields of significance and the facing up to world problems constitute signs of a maturing personality and a widened consciousness of reality. Psychic coping of such global fears will be facilitated the more the individual gains personal experience of the effectiveness of peace policies and activities--not least by making his/her own contribution.