EPILEPSY ACID CHILDRENS SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL ADJUSTMENT

This research investigates the effects of epilepsy on the social and p sychological adjustment of the children studied in the National Health Interview Survey of 1988. Analyses examine the effect of epilepsy on four measures of adjustment-home behavior problems, school behavior pr oblems, depressed mood, and impulsiveness. For each outcome, we addres s five questions: (I) Do children with currently active epilepsy have poorer adjustment than children with inactive epilepsy (2) Do children with epilepsy fare worse than other children? (3) Do demographic back ground and family structure moderate the apparent effects of epilepsy? (4) Do family processes mediate the apparent effects of epilepsy? and (5) Do cooccurring conditions produce the apparent effects of epileps y? Generally, we find that: (1) Children with active and inactive epil epsy fare about equally; (2) Children with any history of epilepsy far e worse than children without epilepsy; (3) Demographic and family bac kground moderate only a small part of epilepsy's effect; and (4) A com bination of family processes and cooccurring conditions appears to pro duce epilepsy's apparent effects.