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Chronically Ill children: A psychologically and emotionally deviant population?

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Abstract

The study evaluated the psychosocial functioning levels of a group of chronically ill (diabetic, asthmatic, cystic fibrotic, and hearing-impaired) children across a battery of standardized personality instruments. The assessments were performed to provide a rigorous test of the popular hypothesis that chronically ill children are especially vulnerable to psychopathology. In contrast to this stereotype, results across measures demonstrated the normalcy rather than the deviance of these children. Although exceptions were noted, the children's functional strengths and coping abilities noticeably outweighed their weaknesses.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Gilmer Hall, University of Virginia, 22901, Charlottesville, Virginia

    J. B. Tavormina, L. S. Kastner, P. M. Slater & S. L. Watt

Authors
  1. J. B. Tavormina
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  2. L. S. Kastner
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  3. P. M. Slater
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  4. S. L. Watt
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Additional information

Portions of this paper were presented at the Society for Research in Child Development Meetings, Denver, Colorado, April, 1975.

This research was partially supported by NSF Grant # Gy 11537 and NIMH Grant # 1 RO3-MH26160-01. Their support is gratefully acknowledged.

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Tavormina, J.B., Kastner, L.S., Slater, P.M. et al. Chronically Ill children: A psychologically and emotionally deviant population?. J Abnorm Child Psychol 4, 99–110 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00916515

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00916515

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