Causal attributions in Brazilian children's reasoning about health and illness
INTRODUCTION: At a time when a great number of diseases can be prevented by changing one's habits and life style, investigations have focused on understanding what adults and children believe to be desirable health practices and uncovering the factors associated with successful adherence to suc...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Universidade de São Paulo
2000-01-01
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| Series: | Revista de Saúde Pública |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0034-89102000000500008 |
| _version_ | 1819052902361071616 |
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| author | Boruchovitch Evely Mednick Birgitte R |
| author_facet | Boruchovitch Evely Mednick Birgitte R |
| author_sort | Boruchovitch Evely |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | INTRODUCTION: At a time when a great number of diseases can be prevented by changing one's habits and life style, investigations have focused on understanding what adults and children believe to be desirable health practices and uncovering the factors associated with successful adherence to such practices. For these, causal attributions for health and illness were investigated among 96 Brazilian elementary school students. METHODS: Ninety six subjects, aged 6 to 14, were interviewed individually and their causal attributions were assessed through 14 true-false items (e.g. people stay well [healthy] because they are lucky). The relationship between the children's causal attributions and demographic characteristics were also examined. RESULTS: Overall, the results were consistent with previous researches. "Taking care of oneself" was considered the most important cause of good health. "Viruses and germs" and "lack of self-care" were the most selected causes of illness. Analyses revealed significant relationship between subjects' causal attribution and their age, school grade level, socioeconomic status and gender. CONCLUSIONS: The study findings suggest that there may be more cross-cultural similarities than differences in children's causal attributions for health and illness. Finding ways to help individuals engage in appropriate preventive-maintenance health practices without developing an exaggerated notion that the individuals can control their own health and illness is a challenge which remains to be addressed by further research. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T12:27:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-494d9eacb6c24bdb8bc77653813e6469 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0034-8910 1518-8787 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T12:27:13Z |
| publishDate | 2000-01-01 |
| publisher | Universidade de São Paulo |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Revista de Saúde Pública |
| spelling | doaj.art-494d9eacb6c24bdb8bc77653813e64692022-12-21T19:04:09ZengUniversidade de São PauloRevista de Saúde Pública0034-89101518-87872000-01-01345484490Causal attributions in Brazilian children's reasoning about health and illnessBoruchovitch EvelyMednick Birgitte RINTRODUCTION: At a time when a great number of diseases can be prevented by changing one's habits and life style, investigations have focused on understanding what adults and children believe to be desirable health practices and uncovering the factors associated with successful adherence to such practices. For these, causal attributions for health and illness were investigated among 96 Brazilian elementary school students. METHODS: Ninety six subjects, aged 6 to 14, were interviewed individually and their causal attributions were assessed through 14 true-false items (e.g. people stay well [healthy] because they are lucky). The relationship between the children's causal attributions and demographic characteristics were also examined. RESULTS: Overall, the results were consistent with previous researches. "Taking care of oneself" was considered the most important cause of good health. "Viruses and germs" and "lack of self-care" were the most selected causes of illness. Analyses revealed significant relationship between subjects' causal attribution and their age, school grade level, socioeconomic status and gender. CONCLUSIONS: The study findings suggest that there may be more cross-cultural similarities than differences in children's causal attributions for health and illness. Finding ways to help individuals engage in appropriate preventive-maintenance health practices without developing an exaggerated notion that the individuals can control their own health and illness is a challenge which remains to be addressed by further research.http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0034-89102000000500008Attitude to healthConcept formationCross-cultural comparisonHealth educationAge factorsSocioeconomic factorsCausal attributions for health and illness |
| spellingShingle | Boruchovitch Evely Mednick Birgitte R Causal attributions in Brazilian children's reasoning about health and illness Revista de Saúde Pública Attitude to health Concept formation Cross-cultural comparison Health education Age factors Socioeconomic factors Causal attributions for health and illness |
| title | Causal attributions in Brazilian children's reasoning about health and illness |
| title_full | Causal attributions in Brazilian children's reasoning about health and illness |
| title_fullStr | Causal attributions in Brazilian children's reasoning about health and illness |
| title_full_unstemmed | Causal attributions in Brazilian children's reasoning about health and illness |
| title_short | Causal attributions in Brazilian children's reasoning about health and illness |
| title_sort | causal attributions in brazilian children s reasoning about health and illness |
| topic | Attitude to health Concept formation Cross-cultural comparison Health education Age factors Socioeconomic factors Causal attributions for health and illness |
| url | http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0034-89102000000500008 |
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