Mz. Wamboldt et al., RELATIONSHIP OF ASTHMA SEVERITY AND PSYCHOLOGICAL-PROBLEMS IN CHILDREN, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 37(9), 1998, pp. 943-950
Objective: To determine whether physiological severity of asthma is as
sociated with increased psychological symptoms in children. Method: Pa
rticipants were 337 children, aged 7 to 19 years (mean 11.9, SE 0.13),
and a parent of each child. Children's asthma severity was rated by e
xperienced pediatric asthma specialists using current guidelines from
the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Children filled out the
Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale and the Weinberger Adjustment Inven
tory. Parents reported on their child's medical history, completed the
Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) about their child, and completed the
Pennebaker Inventory of Linguid Languidness as a measure of their own
physical symptoms. Results: Child-rated anxiety symptoms were unrelate
d to asthma severity or to markers of asthma functional morbidity. Par
ental ratings of internalizing symptoms in their children were related
to severity. Parent physical symptoms explained 10.2 % of the varianc
e in CBCL Internalizing symptoms, and asthma severity added an additio
nal 6.7 % to the variance. Conclusions: Asthma severity may be a more
salient stressor to parents, who in turn report higher levels of child
internalizing symptoms for children with severe asthma, than to child
ren themselves. Contrary to prior hypotheses, children with severe ast
hma did not rate themselves as having higher levels of anxiety than th
ose with mild or moderate asthma or than standardized norms.