The main concern of children and parents is not about imitation but about the ability of those considered more vulnerable not to be upset or frightened. Negative emotions to both factual and fictional violence are common but often unpredictable and unexpected. For example, it is common for individuals to be frightened by something in seemingly harmless productions like Pinocchio or Little Red Riding Hood. Children are often able to make complicated assessments of what is fictional or factual according to genre, content, etc. Negative emotions can also be positive, i.e. the excitement of being scared.
Children are more likely to identify with the victim than the perpetrator of violence.
Children develop a range of coping strategies themselves, e.g. group viewing, ridicule, hiding, etc. These strategies are different for factual and fictional programmes. There is no evidence to support the theories that watching violence makes children act more violently or that continued exposure desensitises them to violent actions. Violent behaviour may be seen as the result of various influences, the main variable identified as family. Sex, class and ethnicity seem to have little bearing on who chooses to watch horror or violence.