The present research seeks to study the development of children's understanding of HIV, its modes of transmission, AIDS symptoms and health consequences, personal risk, and behavioral strategies for prevention using a developmental model of health promotion and disease prevention. Six hundred children, 75 boys and 75 girls from each of the first, third, fifth, and seventh grades of Central North Carolina school system, which mirror the state's socio economic status (SES), rural composition, and racial balance, will be evaluated for intelligence, level of cognitive development, stage and velocity of physiological maturation, health status, and comprehension of the constructs which underlie adoption of health promotion and disease prevention behaviors. These constructs include knowledge of the """"""""Inside of the Body Parts"""""""" and organ system functioning; awareness of disease symptomatology; mechanisms for germs and/or viral agent transmission; and potential illness consequences; and the child's sense of personal illness vulnerability and self control over health status, which are hypothesized to motivate adoption of prevention behaviors that apply to the problems of HIV/AIDS, oral hygiene, and obesity/cardiovascular fitness. Finally, follow-up interviews will occur with youngsters assessed to be in the midst of transitional cognitive development and/or physiological maturation, which are hypothesized to affect their readiness to master new, but challenging bodily concerns.
| Whitt, J K (1995) Current research on children's and adolescents' HIV/AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. J Pediatr Psychol 20:37-40 |
