Abstract
Purpose: To investigate whether adolescents with chronic conditions differ from adolescents without chronic conditions in several psychological outcomes. An additional purpose was to explore whether adolescents with chronic conditions differ as a function of the visibility of their conditions. Methods: By means of the Adolescent Health Survey, 1683 students (grades 7-12) with a variety of chronic conditions were compared with 1650 students without chronic conditions in regard to emotional well-being, worries and concerns, and body image. Differences in emotional well-being were examined as a function of perception of family connectedness. Comparisons were also made between adolescents with visible and invisible conditions. Results: Adolescents with chronic conditions had lower emotional well-being scores, worried more about dying soon and about school or future work, and had poorer body image. For students with and without chronic conditions, higher emotional well-being scores were significantly related to higher levels of family connectedness. The best explanatory variables of emotional well-being were body image, family connectedness, concerns about school and future work, having a disability, and worry about peer relationships, accounting together for 36% of the variance in the outcome variable. No differences were found between adolescents with visible and invisible conditions. Conclusions: Although adolescents with chronic conditions do less well than adolescents without chronic conditions, having a disability is not the most influential factor on emotional well-being. Family connectedness is of fundamental importance for adolescents' emotional health.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 199-204 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Journal of Adolescent Health |
Volume | 15 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - May 1994 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Adolescents Emotional well-being Family connectedness Chronic conditions Visibility of conditions
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
- Psychiatry and Mental health