BLOOMINGTON, Ind., March 15 (UPI) -- U.S. adults are more likely to shun kids with mental illnesses than children with a physical illness such as asthma.
The study in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior found almost 30 percent of parents said they would not want their child to become friends of a child with depression. About 40 percent had the same sentiments about attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and about 20 percent said they did not want a child with either ADHD or depression living next door.
However, when asked if they wanted their children to befriend a child with "normal troubles" such as asthma, the negative responses dropped to 10 percent or less.
"We used asthma as a baseline condition because it represents a physical problem with a known and standard treatment," lead author Jack Martin of Indiana University in Bloomington said in a statement.
"Many respondents did not want their children to become friends with other kids identified as having mental illnesses or have them come over to spend an evening socializing."
