Study: Children can recognize sick faces and avoid catching diseases

Studies show adults can detect sickness from faces
Research gaps in child response to sick faces to avoid catching diseases
Kids as young as 8 can recognize illness, the study notes

Updated: Oct 14, 2023 / 11:28 PM CDT

Children dance at the recovery camp for children and their mothers affected by the war near Lviv, Ukraine, Wednesday, May 3, 2023. A generation of Ukrainian children have seen their lives upended by Russia’s invasion of their country. Hundreds of kids have been killed. For the survivors, the wide-ranging trauma is certain to leave psychological scars that will follow them into adolescence and adulthood. UNICEF says an estimated 1.5 million Ukrainian children are at risk of mental health issues. (AP Photo/Hanna Arhirova)

(NewsNation) — While adults have shown the ability to detect sickness from facial expressions and make choices about interacting with individuals, research on how children respond to sick faces is lacking.

Infectious diseases are a leading cause of child mortality according to the World Health Organization, so a team of researchers collected photographs of individuals during periods of illness, such as short-term contagious illnesses like COVID-19, as well as when they were in good health to test children.

“Expanding on our earlier investigations involving adults, we postulated that the sensitivity to facial signs of illness would emerge during childhood, particularly between ages four and nine.” said Tiffany Leung, a doctoral student in developmental psychology at the University of Miami who spearheaded the project.

The study’s findings revealed that children, particularly those aged 8 and 9, demonstrated the capacity to both identify and steer clear of individuals exhibiting signs of illness.

The study indicated that adults exhibited greater precision in recognizing and avoiding sick faces compared to 8- to 9-year-olds, who, in turn, surpassed the accuracy of 4- to 5-year-olds.

This pattern suggests an improvement in these skills with age. Additionally, children who excelled at recognizing sick faces were also better at avoiding them. These discoveries contribute to the growing knowledge base highlighting humans’ ability to detect illness from facial cues.