Stress, Emotional Skill, and Illness in Children: The Importance of Distinguishing between Children's and Parents' Reports of Illness

Abstract

This study examined relationships of stress (negative event frequency during the last year) to reports of illness among 92 children, aged 10 to 13 years. Children's health status was reported separately by children and parents, and children's skill in identifying and communicating their feelings was tested for direct and buffering relationships on illness reports. Analyses controlled for demographics and negative affect of both children and parents, and children's verbal ability was also tested for confounding. Results showed that stress correlated positively with children's poor health, whether the children's health status was reported by children or by parents. Children's emotional skill was correlated with better health when health was reported by children, but with worse health when health was reported by parents. Further, moderator analyses indicated that the relationship between negative event frequency and children's poor health as reported by parents held only for children with high levels of skill in identifying and communicating feelings. These findings suggest that negative life events impair children's health, but that the health reports of children and parents are quite different, and parents' views may be affected by children's skill in communicating their internal states.