Personality adjustment of children with cystic fibrosis

The focus of this study was the personality adjustment of chronically ill children. While there has been very detailed and careful research conducted regarding the physiological processes resulting from various chronic illnesses, there has been little critical research conducted regarding the psychological processes resulting from chronic illnesses. One way of looking at psychological processes in children is to look at their personality. Research has been conducted in an effort to measure personality traits and establish norms for personality adjustment and maladjustment. With this knowledge health professionals can evaluate children and provide preventative, maintenance and restorative models of health care delivery. Since there is a dirth of research regarding personality adjustment of chronically ill children, this researcher decided to study children with the chronic illness, cystic fibrosis, and their personality adjustment according to the Children's Personality Questionnaire. This researcher chose to study children with cystic fibrosis because the disease can have severe debilitating effects on children. Children with cystic fibrosis often must follow a strict regimen that consumes a lot of their daily time and attention. Also, these children often experience anxiety due to their uncertain prognosis. This researcher thought it was important to know if these stresses would have detrimental effects on the personality adjustment of children with cystic fibrosis. Fourteen personality characteristics on the CPQ and five independent variables of cystic fibrosis were investigated. Age at onset of symptoms, severity of illness, number of hospitalizations, socioeconomic status and communication were the variables chosen for investigation. It has been suggested in the literature that these variables account for variations in the personality adjustment of chronically ill children. The hypotheses for this study were: 1) there are differences in personality characteristics in children with cystic fibrosis in comparison to the norms on the Children's Personality Questionnaire (CPQ) and 2) that these characteristics are related to one or more of the following variables: age at onset of symptoms, severity of illness, number of hospitalizations, socioeconomic status and communication about the disease among family members. The sample consisted of twenty children and their mothers in the Salt Lake City, Ogden and Brigham City areas of Utah. The children were between eight and 13 years of age and attended the University of Utah Intermountain Cystic Fibrosis Center. A maternal questionnaire was developed with questions formulated to obtain information about the children's age at onset of symptoms, severity of illness, number of hospitalizations, and communication about cystic fibrosis among family members. Scores measuring the severity of illness were obtained from the medical records. Each mother who participated in the study responded to the maternal questionnaire. Each child in the study completed the CPQ which was designed to measure personality adjustment of children eight to 13 years of age. The means and standard deviations on each of the 14 factors were calculated for boys, girls, and the combined group. The scores were converted to s-stens, standard scores developed for the CPQ, and were placed on a profile sheet. No statistically significant differences were found between the mean scores for the cystic fibrosis children studied in this investigation and the sample population for standardization of the CPQ. Although none of the findings were statistically significant, there were some possible relationships observed between high or low scores on certain factors on the CPQ and some of the environmental variables investigated. There are indications from the data that children with a mild form of cystic fibrosis and one or no hospitalizations tend to score on the high side of Factor D which describes children who are excitable and impatient. Cystic fibrosis children who have been hospitalized four or more times tended to score on the low side of Factor D. Children who score on this side of the scale are described as obedient, conforming and submissive. The data also suggests that children who come from families where communication about cystic fibrosis is restricted, tend to score on the high side of Factor N, which describes children who are shrewd, artful and insightful regarding others.