Adolescents' knowledge of medical terminology and family health history

Compared 309 youths ages 11 to 15 years and their parents with respect to their comprehension of terms for seven common medical disorders: heart attack, stroke, atherosclerosis, ulcer, hypertension, diabetes, and cancer. For two thirds of the adolescent sample, accuracy of reporting of these disorders among the parents and grandparents was assessed. Results indicated considerable variation among disorders with respect to both comprehension of terms and accuracy of family health history. Adolescents' age was a major predictor of knowledge of medical terms (r = .41). Age was not related to accuracy of family health information. Consonant with this finding, adolescents' level of accuracy regarding family health history was generally similar to that of previous adult samples, suggesting that family health information is acquired and retained at an early age. Adolescents were more accurate concerning parents' compared with grandparents' history of hypertension.