Concepts of Health and Sickness of Preschool- and School-Aged Children

Interviews and a drawing task were used to assess children s concepts of health and sickness Older children were more likely than preschoolers to give specific reasons for illness, but age groups did not differ in attributing illness to personal actions Among children over 5 years, 72% identified germs with disease Preschoolers drew germs as faces or irregular shapes, while 5- to 10-year olds typically drew monster-like figures and older children drew cell-like shapes Age differences in concepts of illness are interpreted as acquisitions of culturally accepted beliefs, rather than applications of operational logic. © 1990, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved