South African Children's Understanding of AIDS and Flu: Investigating Conceptual Understanding of Cause, Treatment, and Prevention.

Journal of Cognition and Culture
Cristine H Legare, Susan A Gelman

Abstract

The present study examined children's understanding of illness in a peri-urban community in South Africa where AIDS is prevalent (N = 138). Results suggest that children were surprisingly knowledgeable about AIDS at an early age, and may have even erroneously analogized from AIDS to the flu. Furthermore, all age groups attributed different causes for AIDS (transmitted by blood) and flu (casual contagion). However, although factual knowledge about AIDS was identified among all age groups, there was no evidence of understanding biological causal mechanisms. The data have implications both for developmental research on biological reasoning in diverse cultural contexts and for the design of health education programs.

Citations

Oct 1, 2011·Annual Review of Anthropology·Susan A Gelman, Cristine H Legare
Sep 30, 2014·The British Journal of Developmental Psychology·Georgia PanagiotakiHerjit Aubby
Jan 15, 2015·Applied Developmental Science·Carol K Sigelman
May 30, 2012·Psychology, Health & Medicine·Caroline McIntoshAntonia Lyons
Mar 16, 2012·Child Development·Cristine H LegarePaul L Harris
Sep 1, 2021·Human Nature : an Interdisciplinary Biosocial Perspective·Ze Hong, Joseph Henrich

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