| Description |
The purpose of this study was to identify and examine the relationship between a set a predictor variables and the criterion of physical and psychological symptoms manifested in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (lupus). The sample of 49 patients was obtained from the files of four physicians at the University of Utah Medical Center. Each subject was asked to complete a demographic data sheet, Sullivan's (1977) Utah Test Appraising Health (UTAH-IV), and Cattell's (1970) Sixteen Personality Factaor Questionnaire (16PF). Of the 49 subjects, 44 were female with 5 males participating. The average age was 35 years, average amount of education was 13.8 years, and average number of years of having the disease was 6 years. Two multiple regression analyses were computed, regressing physical and psychological symptoms on the number of reported stress events, severity of illness, amount of education, number of hospitalizations, and ego strength. The multiple R indicated that the number of psychological symptoms and the reported stress events demonstrated the strongest relationship with the criterion of lupus symptoms. Ego strength accounted for very little variance, while education made a modes contribution in an inverse direction. The second equation computed indicated that with a criterion of psychological symptoms, the number of physical symptoms and ego strength were the strongest predictors, with ego strength showing a negative correlation. Both the number of stress events and the number of hospitalizations made negligible contributions to the prediction of psychological symptoms. |
