CHRONIC ILLNESS AND EMOTIONAL DISTRESS IN ADOLESCENCE

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate emotional dist ress and suicidal ideation among adolescents with and without chronic illness. Methods: Two groups were compared from the Barcelona Adolesce nt Health Survey (3,129 students aged 14-19 years) data base. The inde x group included 162 adolescents with chronic conditions (100 females and 62 males) including those with asthma, diabetes, seizures, or canc er. No differences in prevalence of emotional distress or suicidal ide ation were found among the four categories of disease. The control gro up included 865 subjects (383 females and 482 males). No age differenc es were evident between the index and control groups. Chi-square and S tudent's t-test were used for intergroup comparisons, with the criteri on value set at p < .01 to reduce the probability of type I error. Ana lyses were conducted separately by gender. Results: Compared with cont rols, a significantly greater proportion of females with chronic illne ss reported emotional problems, feeling in a bad mood, feeling sad, be lieving nothing amused them, having suicidal thoughts, expressing depr essive symptomatology, and having personal problems needing profession al help. In contrast, no significant group differences were found for males. No gender differences were found regarding recent contact with a mental health specialist. Conclusions: Chronic illnesses were associ ated with substantive emotional distress and suicide ideation in femal es but not in males. Females with chronic conditions did not, however, seek mental health services more often than their non-chronically ill counterparts. This suggests serious shortcomings in identification of ''at-risk'' youth and effective outreach to this population.