Commentary: Children With Pediatric Conditions: Can Peers' Impressions Be Managed? And What About Their Friends?

section. The two articles included in this special section of JPP add to our accumulating knowledge about the interplay of peer relations and pediatric conditions. First, the study by Guite, Walker, Smith, and Garber has some good news. Knowing that a child has somatic symptoms (recurrent abdominal pain), and that these symptoms are medically based, apparently had little or no impact on preadolescent children’s liking for the hypothetical child. Nor did the presence of a life-stressor (parental fighting) have an impact on the hypothetical child’s likeability. In fact, the main determinant of liking for the hypothetical child was being of the same gender, a finding that is consonant with a substantial literature on peer relations in middle childhood (Hartup, 1983). For children of this age, peer networks are primarily “all girl” or “all boy,” and cross-sex friendships are relatively rare. For this reason, the additional finding of Guite and colleagues that disease status may be a factor in girls’ liking for boys has limited practical relevance. Overall, then, the findings of Guite and colleagues are positive in suggesting that children with recurrent abdominal pain (a relatively “invisible” ailment) should not be at any particular disadvantage with peers just because of their illness. In contrast, the information provided here by Bell and Morgan paints a less rosy picture. This study focused on children’s reactions to hypothetical peers who were obese. As these authors note, obesity is known to be a stigmatizing condition Journal of Pediatric Psychology, Vol. 25, No. 3, 2000, pp. 147–149