Connotative meaning of self- and asthma-related concepts for two subgroups of asthmatic children

Abstract

This study examined relationships between sympton loss and maintenance and cognitive structures. The examination of cognitive structures was by performance on a semantic differential specifically constructed for the purpose of examining asthma-related and self-related concepts. Two groups of children, 25 symptom losers and 25 symptom maintainers classifiable on the basis of changes in asthmatic symptoms in response to separation from their homes and admission to residence to the Children's Asthma Research Institute and Hospital served as subjects. The major hypotheses of the study were: (1) Differences in cognitions related to asthma will be a function of symptom status. (2) Children who lose symptoms will show a greater degree of self-acceptance than those who maintain symptoms. It was found that symptom maintaining children indicate lesser cognitive distances between the concept of asthma and other preselected concepts related to asthma than symptom losing children. The concepts of me, mother, nurse and Tedral show a significantly greater semantic similarity for children who maintain symptoms. Symptom losers exhibit a greater conceptual distance between the concepts of me and asthma than symptom maintainers. In addition, boys who maintain symptomos indicate a greater cognitive similarity between the concepts of me and girl than boys who are symptom losers. These data demonstrate a fair amount of support for the first hypothesis. Support for the second hypothesis is also present in the significantly higher ratings assigned to personally relevant concepts on the evaluative and activity factors by symptom losers. Despite the support for the hypotheses, it was concluded that there is need for a more careful selection of concepts used with the semantic differential. The need to select concepts along continua of strength, intensity and contrast was stressed.