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The article discusses a study on the perceptions of healthy and ill children toward illness and anxiety. The study reveals that there are differences between the views of healthy children on illness from those of ill children and from those with a high level of general anxiety. The disparity of the children's views toward illness is best explained by the phenomenon of illness itself, rather than the expectation or even the anamnesis of previous illness. The findings of the study indicate that when the child is living up with good health, his perception of illness is absent or as so minimal. Nevertheless, anxious children sensed illness as a possible punishment for their misbehavior and considered it as a disruptive force in their lives.

A developmental pattern of child rearing was found to be associated with better health care practices by children than a disciplinary pattern of child rearing. The developmental methods included substantial use of reasons and information, rewards, and granting of autonomy. Based on these findings and a review of previous research, the higher level of health practices of children reared by developmental than of those reared by disciplinary methods is interpreted as an expression of the differential effectiveness of these contrasting child rearing approaches in developing the child's resources and capacities for coping and taking care of himself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Predictions that perceived vulnerability to health problems is (1) inversely related to potential health behavior in persons with high degrees of perceived internal control, (2) directly related to potential health behavior in persons with low perceived internal control, and (3) inversely related to perceived internal control in persons for whom health is salient, were all confirmed by a study of 108 children, aged 7 to 18, conducted at a summer camp. The results highlight the importance of an interplay of factors in determining health-related behavior, and are consistent with the health-belief model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]