Background: Pediatric cancer treatments interfere with the patient's life on physical, psychological, and social levels. Hospital Clowns (HCs) use nonpharmacological techniques to reduce the distress that hospital treatments can cause and increase children's wellbeing, but few studies have analyzed their effects. Objective: This study examined the…

Age and ethnic group differences in cold weather and contagion or germ theories of infectious disease were explored in two studies. A cold weather theory was frequently invoked to explain colds and to a lesser extent flu but became less prominent with age as children gained command of a germ theory of disease. Explanations of how contact with…

There is growing evidence that childhood IQ is inversely associated with mortality in later life. However, the specificity of this association in terms of causes of death, whether it is continuous over the whole range of IQ scores and whether it is the same according to age and sex is not clear. In a large cohort (N = 11,603) of a complete…

Assessed the psychosocial adjustment of (N=107) parents whose children had cancer. Different patterns of association between 11 sources of social support and adjustment were found among groups of parents. Psychosocial adjustment of parents with a child in treatment was correlated more frequently with perceived social support. (Author)

Compared a checklist of distress behaviors to patient (N=67) and observer ratings of pain and anxiety. Results indicated that children showed greater evidence of behavioral distress than adolescents only during the actual medical procedure; however, additional behaviors were observed that suggested that the checklist was age biased. (LLL)

Examined memory of 3- to 18-year-olds with leukemia regarding lumbar punctures (LP). Found that children displayed considerable accuracy for event details, with accuracy increasing with age. Use of Versed (anxiolytic medication described as a "memory blocker") was not related to recall. Higher distress predicted greater exaggerations in…