Open AccessSocial environment in families of children with juvenile arthritis
Author(s) -
Myones Barry L.,
Williams Gordon F.,
Billings Andrew,
Miller John J.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
arthritis & rheumatism
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1529-0131
pISSN - 0004-3591
DOI - 10.1002/art.1790010106
Subject(s) - family environment scale , psychosocial , psychology , distress , arthritis , normative , socioeconomic status , juvenile , interpersonal relationship , developmental psychology , family income , clinical psychology , medicine , psychiatry , social psychology , environmental health , philosophy , population , epistemology , biology , economics , immunology , genetics , economic growth
The Family Environment Scale (FES) was used to study 50 families of children with juvenile arthritis (JA). The FES was administered to all family members over age 10. Interpersonal relationships among family members were evaluated by the cohesion, expressiveness, and conflict subscales of the FES, and personal development was indexed by the FES independence subscale. The family scores in each subscale were compared with normative data from 1,125 families from the San Francisco Bay Area comparable with study families in age, education, number of children, and socio‐economic status. No significant differences (t tests) were found in family cohesion, expressiveness, conflict, or independence in families of children with JA compared with control families when using the FES. These data do not support the hypothesis that psychosocial distress in families precedes or inevitably results from development of arthritis in a child.