SELF-ESTEEM AND BEHAVIOR IN GIRLS WITH TURNER SYNDROME

Data on social competence, behavior, and self-esteem were gathered fro m a large sample of girls with Turner syndrome to determine whether ps ychological difficulties were associated with Turner syndrome. Subject s included 97 girls with Turner syndrome, 7 to 14 years of age, and 93 girls without Turner syndrome recruited from public schools. The two groups of girls were similar in age, verbal intelligence scores, and r acial composition. The girls with Turner syndrome were found, based on both parental and self-report, to be more immature than the girls in the comparison group, with weaker social relationships, school perform ance, and self-esteem. A decline in self-esteem was also documented fo r the girls with Turner syndrome, but not the comparison group, as the y moved into early adolescence. Although the findings support an incre ased risk for subtle behavioral problems among girls with Turner syndr ome, in most cases the problems endorsed were not severe enough to sug gest clinical impairment.