Dimensions of Children's Health Beliefs

Health beliefs interviews were conducted with 250 children aged 6-17 years. A factor analysis of the items resulted in six correlated fac tors which were interpreted as 1) specific health concerns, 2)general health concerns, 3) perceived parental concern, 4) perceived general susceptibility, 5) perceived susceptibility to specific conditions, and 6) perceived seriousness of and susceptibility to disease. Factor scores were computed and two-way analyses of variance (by age and sex of child) were conducted on six sets of factor scores. No significant sex differences or sex by age in teraction effects were noted. Younger children scored significantly higher on "specific health concerns"and "perceived general susceptibility,"while older children scored significantly higher on "perceived parental concern. " Tests of differences among variances showed a tendency for the variability to be greater among younger children. The results are interpreted as pro viding partial support for a model of children's health beliefs and as a basis for further operationalization of concepts which are central to an understand ing of motivated health behavior. Implications for practice are discussed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66657/2/10.1177_109019818000700304.pd

Perceptions Held by Obese Children and their Parents: Implications for Weight Control Intervention

The study was designed to identify some of the psychosocial barriers to compliance in a hospital-based weight control intervention program for adolescents. Forty obese adolescents, 10 to 16 years of age, and their parents were surveyed prior to participa tion in a behavioral change weight control program at a major teaching hospital. Significant correlations were obtained between weight loss outcome and six factors. In obese adolescents, weight loss was significantly associated with their beliefs regarding: (1) personal control over weight, (2) barriers or difficulty of losing weight, (3) medical problems as a cause of their obesity, (4) family problems as a cause of their obesity, and (5) perceived willingness of family members to diet. It is suggested that greater weight loss in children who perceived more barriers/difficulty and less family willing ness to diet may reflect the importance of having realistic expectations related to be havioral compliance. In addition, a positive parental attitude or expectation that the child was less likely to be overweight in the future was associated with greater weight loss compliance. Other parental health beliefs, however, did not generally predict the child's weight loss response to the intervention. The findings lend support to the sig nificance of the adolescent's beliefs regarding weight and family support in explaining weight loss response to a behavioral change intervention program.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66720/2/10.1177_109019818801500204.pd

Parental and Child Health Beliefs and Behavior

Personal interviews concerning health beliefs and behav iors were conducted with a parent and child in each of 250 households. Index scores were constructed for parental and child health beliefs, and these scores were entered, along with demographic variables, in a series of multiple regression analyses predicting child health beliefs and behaviors. The age of the child was the variable most highly associated with three of four child health behaviors and four of six child health beliefs. The children's snacking between meals and cigarette smoking were related to several parental behaviors and, to a lesser extent, parental health beliefs. The children's health beliefs were less predictable than were their health behaviors, and the observed significant relationships were with parental health beliefs and demographics. The implications for the design of health education programs are discussed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/67555/2/10.1177_109019818200900207.pd