LEVEL OF ANXIETY AMONG STREET CHILDREN

The risks of children living street life are great and their vulnerability to exploitation is enormous. Children facing anxiety may withdraw from situations which have provoked anxiety in the past. The present study was conducted on selected street children belonging to the age group of 4 to 16 years segregated into three age groups 4 - 8, 8 - 12 - and 12 - 16 through r andom sampling from urban areas of Lucknow. Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorder scale by Birhamer & Khetarpal (1995) to assess the level of anxiety was administered and compared across gender. The data was collected, coded, tabulated and analyze d using and chi square test and the statistical significance of data was assessed. It was found that there was significant influence of occupation of the respondent’s father and also mother’s occupation on the anxiety level of street children. The results of the study confirms that differences in level of anxiety a re due to parents occupation.