Abstract
Guided by both a Piagetian and a naïve theories perspective on disease concepts, this study examined children’s thinking about HIV/AIDS, with special attention to its development, coherence, and sociocultural correlates. It examined age differences among Mexican-American and Euro-American children aged 8 to 13 (N = 158) in both Piagetian level of causal understanding (independent of correctness) and the causal knowledge central to an intuitive theory of AIDS (knowledge of risk behaviors and of the viral disease agent). It explored theoretical coherence in terms of implications of causal understanding and causal knowledge for knowledge of how to prevent AIDS and willingness to interact with people who have it. As predicted, scores on all measures increased significantly with age, and causal knowledge of risk factors exceeded knowledge of corresponding prevention rules. In multiple regression analyses, causal knowledge of both risk factors and the viral disease agent predicted knowledge of prevention and willingness to interact, even with age and other measures controlled. Prevention knowledge predicted willingness to interact even better, whereas the Piagetian measure of casual understanding did not predict either prevention knowledge or willingness to interact. Ethnic group differences were not evident but parent education was related to greater viral knowledge and willingness to interact. The results suggest a good deal of coherence in children’s thinking about this disease while also suggesting the desirability of making explicit the implications of critical causal information about an unfamiliar disease for preventing the disease without stigmatizing those who have it.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Au, T. K., & Romo, L. F. (1996). Building a coherent conception of HIV transmission: a new approach to AIDS education. In D. Medin (Ed.), The psychology of learning and motivation: vol. 35 (pp. 193–241). San Diego: Academic.
Bibace, R., & Walsh, M. E. (1980). Development of children’s concepts of illness. Pediatrics, 66, 912–917.
Bird, J. E., & Podmore, V. N. (1990). Children’s understanding of health and illness. Psychology and Health, 4, 175–185.
Cederbaum, J. A., & Hutchinson, M. K. (2016). Parent-child communication about abstinence and safer sex in parochial school families. Journal of HIV/AIDS & Social Services, 15, 48–68.
DiClemente, R. J., Boyer, C. B., & Morales, E. S. (1988). Minorities and AIDS: knowledge, attitudes, and misconceptions among Black and Latino adolescents. American Journal of Public Health, 78, 55–57.
Donoso, J.C. (2014). On religion, Mexicans are more Catholic and often more traditional than Mexican Americans. Pew Research Center FactTank. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/12/08/on-religion-mexicans-are-more-catholic-and-often-more-traditional-than-mexican-americans/.
Drahota, A., & Malcarne, V. L. (2008). Concepts of illness in children: a comparison between children with and without intellectual disability. Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 46, 44–53.
Eiser, C., Patterson, D., & Eiser, R. (1983). Children’s knowledge of health and illness: implications for health education. Child: Care, Health and Development, 9, 285–292.
Fisher, J. D., & Fisher, W. A. (1992). Changing AIDS-risk behavior. Psychological Bulletin, 111, 455–474.
Gelman, S. A., & Legare, C. H. (2011). Concepts and folk theories. Annual Review of Anthropology, 40, 379–398.
Gray, K. M., Valverde, E. E., Tang, T., Siddiqi, A., & Hall, H. I. (2015). Diagnoses and prevalence of HIV infection among Hispanics or Latinos—United States, 2008–2013. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 64, 1097–1103.
Hansdottir, I., & Malcarne, V. L. (1998). Conceptions of illness in Icelandic children. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 23, 187–195.
Ishikawa, N., Pridmore, P., Carr-Hill, R., & Chaimuangdee, K. (2011). The attitudes of primary schoolchildren in northern Thailand towards their peers who are affected by HIV and AIDS. AIDS Care, 23, 237–244.
Kalish, C. W. (1996). Preschoolers’ understand of germs as invisible mechanisms. Cognitive Development, 11, 83–106.
Legare, C. H., & Gelman, S. A. (2009). South African children’s understanding of AIDS and flu: investigating conceptual understanding of cause, treatment and prevention. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 9, 333–346.
Lescano, C. M., Brown, L. K., Raffaelli, M., & Lima, L. (2009). Cultural factors and family-based HIV prevention intervention for Latino youth. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 34, 1041–1052.
Miller, K. S., Forehand, R., Wiegand, R., Fasula, A. M., Armistead, L., Long, N., & Wyckoff, S. C. (2011). Making HIV prevention programming count: Identifying predictors of success in a parent-based HIV prevention program for youth. AIDS Education and Prevention, 23, 38–53.
National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, Division of Adolescent and School Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2017). Results from the School Health Policies and Practices Study, 2016. https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/shpps/pdf/shpps-results_2016.pdf.
Peltzer, K., & Promtussananon, S. (2003). Black South African children’s understanding of health and illness: colds, chicken pox, broken arms and AIDS. Child: Care, Health & Development, 29, 385–393.
Perrin, E. C., & Gerrity, P. S. (1981). There’s a demon in your belly: children’s understanding of illness. Pediatrics, 67, 841–849.
Poobalan, A. S., Pitchforth, E., Imamura, M., Tucker, J. S., Philip, K., Spratt, J., Mandava, L., & van Teijlingen, E. (2009). Characteristics of effective interventions in improving young people’s health: a review of reviews. Sex Education, 9, 319–336.
Raman, L., & Winer, G. A. (2002). Children’s and adults’ understanding of illness: evidence in support of a coexistence model. Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, 128, 325–355.
Ritieni, A., Moskowitz, J., & Tholandi, M. (2008). HIV/AIDS misconceptions among Latinos: findings from a population-based survey of California adults. Health Education & Behavior, 35, 245–259.
Rosenthal, D., Waters, L., & Glaun, D. (1995). What do pre-adolescents and adolescents understand about HIV/AIDS? Psychology and Health, 10, 507–522.
Schonfeld, D. J., Johnson, S. R., Perrin, E. C., O’Hare, L. L., & Cicchetti, D. V. (1993). Understanding of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome by elementary school children—a developmental survey. Pediatrics, 92, 389–395.
Schonfeld, D. J., O’Hare, L. L., Perrin, E. C., Quackenbush, M., Showalter, D. R., & Cicchetti, D. V. (1995). A randomized, controlled trial of a school-based, multi-faceted AIDS education program in the elementary grades: the impact on comprehension, knowledge and fears. Pediatrics, 95, 480–486.
Sigelman, C. K. (2012). Age and ethnic differences in cold weather and contagion theories of colds and flu. Health Education & Behavior, 39, 67–76.
Sigelman, C. K. (2014). Development and coherence of beliefs regarding disease causality and prevention. Applied Developmental Science, 18, 201–213.
Sigelman, C., Derenowski, E., Woods, T., Mukai, T., Alfeld, C., Durazo, O., & Maddock, A. (1996). Mexican-American and Anglo children’s responsiveness to a theory-centered AIDS education program. Child Development, 67, 267–282.
Sigelman, C. K., Mukai, T., Woods, T., & Alfeld, C. (1995). Parents’ contributions to children’s knowledge and attitudes regarding AIDS: another look. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 20, 61–77.
Singer, E., Rogers, T. F., & Corcoran, M. (1987). AIDS. Public Opinion Quarterly, 15, 580–595.
Skurnick, J. J., Johnson, R. R., Quinones, M. A., Foster, J. D., & Louria, D. B. (1991). New Jersey high school students’ knowledge, attitudes, and behavior regarding AIDS. AIDS Education and Prevention, 3, 21–30.
Sohn, A., & Park, S. (2012). HIV/AIDS knowledge, stigmatizing attitudes, and related behaviors and factors that affect stigmatizing attitudes against HIV/AIDS among Korean adolescents. Osong Public Health and Research Perspectives, 3, 24–30.
Walsh, M. E., & Bibace, R. (1991). Children’s conceptions of AIDS: a developmental analysis. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 16, 273–285.
Weisman, K., & Markman, E. M. (2017). Theory-based explanation as intervention. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 24, 1555–1562.
Wellman, H. M., & Gelman, S. A. (1998). Knowledge acquisition in foundational domains. In W. Damon (Ed.), D. Kuhn & R. Siegler (Vol. Eds.), Handbook of child psychology. Vol. 2. Cognition, perception, and language. 5th ed. (pp. 523–573). New York: Wiley.
Zamora, A., Romo, L. F., & Au, T. K. (2006). Using biology to teach adolescents about STD transmission and self-protective behaviors. Applied Developmental Psychology, 27, 109–124.
Acknowledgements
Thanks go to many for their contributions, especially Corinne Alfeld, Eileen Derenowski, Olga Durazo, Amy Maddock, Takayo Mukai, and Teresa Woods.
Funding
This study was funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (grant number HD27472).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
The author declares that she has no conflict of interest.
Ethical Approval
All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
Informed Consent
Informed consent or assent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Electronic supplementary material
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sigelman, C.K. Children’s Thinking about HIV/AIDS Causality, Prevention, and Social Interaction. J Child Fam Stud 27, 3288–3299 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-018-1152-y
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-018-1152-y