Children's perception of, and attitude towards, unfamiliar peers with facial port-wine stains

Abstract

Evaluated children's perception of, and attitude towards, unfamiliar peers with facial port-wine stains (PWS). Participants (ages 8 to 11 years) from three grades were shown videoclips of the same 6 children, 3 of whom (2 girls and 1 boy) were seen with a (fake) PWS by participants from one grade. Participants from different grades saw a different 1 of these 3 children with a PWS. Participants thought PWS would attract staring and teasing; for the boy it would cause self-pity and, for one of the girls, it would make getting a boyfriend more difficult, but the stain did not significantly affect participants' assessment of the attractiveness and character or willingness to interact/become friendly with the children on the video. Possible reasons for this discrepancy are discussed.