ADOLESCENTS WITH INFLAMMATORY BOWEL-DISEASE - THE ROLES OF NEGATIVE AFFECTIVITY AND HOSTILITY IN SUBJECTIVE VERSUS OBJECTIVE HEALTH

Examination of how psychological factors relate to illness severity am ong adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is rare. Further , studies have not accounted for the pervasive influence of negative a ffectivity (NA) or distinguished among subjective, behavioral, and obj ective measures of IBD severity We examined how NA, positive affectivi ty, expressed hostility, and negative life events were related to subj ective (pain, fatigue, disability), behavioral (health care contacts), and objective (erythrocyte sedimentation rate) illness severity among 56 adolescents with IBD. NA was positively related to subjective illn ess, and expressed hostility was inversely related to objective illnes s. Other relationships were eliminated after controlling for NA. Data suggest that NA and subjective illness are comanifestations of a singl e disposition, but that expressed hostility has an independent relatio nship with disease activity among adolescents with IBD.