The pediatricians’ use of the white coat during the care of children is controversial and often debated. Although the white coat is the most widely used symbol to depict the physician, many pediatricians have abandoned it for fear that young patients find it threatening. These pediatricians discard their white coats in the belief that ordinary clothes are less threatening. Other pediatricians, though, continue to wear white coats, some for tradition, some for practicality, and some in recognition of expectations of parents or patients of what a doctor should look like. We reviewed the scientific literature addressing pediatricians’ use of the white coat. The following key words were used in a MEDLINE search to identify articles for the review: dress, attire, or white coat combined with pediatrics, children, or adolescents. Studies were included in the review if they examined the preferences of children, parents, or adolescents regarding the wearing of a white coat. We excluded studies that were from health care fields other than pediatrics or dealt primarily with the issue of white-coat hypertension. Twelve studies fit the criteria. Eight used photographs with physicians dressed in varying levels of formality and asked parents to assign attributes to the physicians. Three studies used a questionnaire to test attire preferences. One study used a questionnaire to assess attitudes of adolescents after an interaction with a physician dressed in 1 of 4 styles. The outcome measure most frequently tested in the literature was parent or patient preference from a series of photographs that categorized physician attire into 1 of several levels of formality. Researchers then used this outcome to draw conclusions about interactions with physicians in these attires.