Cognitive Sophistication About Health in First, Second and Third Grade Children: Cognitive Maturity and Accurate Health Knowledge (Education, Age, Iq, Behavior, Development).

Abstract

This exploratory study was intended to develop operational criteria to distinguish between children's cognitive developmental capabilities with respect to health and children's level of accurate health knowledge. The study examined the relationship between two constructs, Cognitive Maturity and Accuracy, in six health content areas: sickness, health, colds, germs, smoking, and drinking. The influences of several independent socio-demographic variables on Cognitive Maturity and Accuracy were examined. Two hundred ninety-nine children in grades one, two and three from seven elementary schools in New York City were interviewed. The r and om sample was stratified by grade, sex, and ethnicity and included Caucasian, Black, Hispanic, and Chinese children from varying income levels. Children were interviewed in school about a variety of health attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors. IQ was measured by the WISC-R vocabulary subtest. A thirty percent r and om subsample of the parents were interviewed by telephone to corroborate some of the child interview data. Cognitive Maturity was an ordinal scale reflecting developmental capabilities within the children's responses about each of six content areas. Accuracy was an ordinal scale based on the number of unique accurate statements made by the child about each of four health content areas. Issues of face, construct, and content validity were examined. Independent raters established high inter- and intrarater reliability on both scales. Cognitive Maturity and Accuracy were positively related both among themselves and with each other. IQ and age were significant predictors of all the Cognitive Maturity and Accuracy scores, except Accuracy about drinking, for which age was the only significant predictor. Income was a significant predictor of only some Cognitive Maturity variables. Exposure to smoking and drinking by parents and /or siblings was not related to Accuracy or Cognitive Maturity about smoking or drinking. The data suggested that knowing health facts was not the equivalent of comprehending the internal, abstract nature of them, and both Accuracy and Cognitive Maturity were subject-specific. These findings have implications for the development of health education programs and should be considered in examining the relationships between health knowledge and health behavior in children.