Children's illness cognition: what mothers think

This study examined the relationships between children's conceptions of illness etiology, treatment, and prevention and parents' estimates of their children's conceptions. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 194 children and their mothers or guardians. Responses were coded for conceptual complexity and developmental sophistication. Relative levels of illness etiology, treatment, and prevention understanding as well as agreement between mothers and their children were calculated. Three quarters of mothers were on target with their children's responses in the etiology and treatment domains while approximately 10% underestimated and 15% overestimated. Within the prevention domain, 50% of mothers were on target with the remainder split evenly between underestimation and overestimation. Mothers who underestimated their children's understanding believed them to be much less sophisticated than how on target mothers viewed their children and overestimating mothers believed their children to be more sophisticated than on target mothers (Fs > 13.25; p < 0.001).