The Relationship of Allergy Severity to Depressive and Anxious Symptomatology: The Role of Attitude toward Illness

The current study examined the relationship between self-reported allergy severity, depressive and anxious symptoms, and attitude toward illness in adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with allergies. Participants were 214 undergraduate students between the ages of 17–25 years with self-reported allergies. Participants completed the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), the Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), and the Child Attitude Toward Illness Scale (CATIS) as measures of depressive symptoms, anxious symptoms, and attitude toward illness, respectively. Using the bootstrapping method, results revealed that attitude toward illness mediated the relationship between self-reported disease severity and depressive and anxious symptoms. Results of the current study suggest that attitude toward illness is one pathway by which subjective disease severity impacts psychological functioning in AYAs with allergies.