Children's Perceptions of Chronic Illness: The Roles of Disease Symptoms, Cognitive Development, and Information

Abstract

This experiment considered the acceptance of chronically ill children by their peers as a result of the peer's level of cognitive development, the type of disease, and the amount of information provided. The results of multivariate and univariate analyses of variance indicate that (a) children's comprehension of illnesses can be improved significantly with the provision of explanatory information, although preoperational children are less able to retain specifics, (b) preoperational children as well as uninformed children perceived themselves as significantly more vulnerable to contagion, (c) the more observable illness was seen as significantly less attractive, and (d) provision of information about the nature of a highly observable illness tended to decrease rather than increase attraction.