Individual knowledge of emotions in asthmatic children

Twenty male asthmatic children (ages 9-11) and their controls were interviewed regarding their concept of emotion using the interview format developed by Harris et al. (1981). The purpose of the study was to examine the asthmatic children's views on the nature and effects of happiness, anger and fear, together with strategies of self-control. The results indicate that healthy and asthmatic children have a different individual view of emotion. The most relevant finding concerns the different way in which healthy and asthmatic children consider fear: the most frequent view of fear in healthy children is similar to a behaviouristic model of emotion, while asthmatic children express a notion very similar to a cognitive model. Regarding anger, almost all healthy children believe themselves capable of exerting self-control whether on the inner mental components or on its outer expression, where a change of direction of mental processes is the only way asthmatic children see to modify their anger. The implications of these findings both for a description of asthmatic personality and therapy are outlined.