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Competent kids: children and adolescents with a chronic illness
Author(s) -
PERRIN ELLEN C.,
RAMSEY BARBARA K.,
ANDLER HOWARD M. S
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
child: care, health and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.832
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1365-2214
pISSN - 0305-1862
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2214.1987.tb00520.x
Subject(s) - temperament , psychology , multilevel model , competence (human resources) , developmental psychology , illness severity , regression analysis , clinical psychology , social competence , severity of illness , personality , psychiatry , social change , social psychology , machine learning , computer science , economics , economic growth
Summary The social and personal competence of children and adolescents with a seizure disorder or an orthopaedic condition was assessed by parents and teachers. The contributions to these assessments of characteristics of the child, the intensity of the illness, and the child's temperament were explored using a hierarchical regression model. Parents and teachers rated all children as functioning fairly well. Children with a seizure disorder were perceived as significantly less competent than were their healthy peers ( P < 0.05). Across health status groups, children received higher competence scores from their parents than they did from their teachers ( P < 0.05). Competence scores did not differ according to the age of the child. The patterns of variables that predicted ratings of competence differed according to illness type and rater. Indicators of illness intensity explained a larger share of the variance in competence ratings for children with a seizure disorder (25%) than for children with an orthopaedic condition (5%). For children in this latter group, temperament explained a much larger proportion of the variance in both parents' (29%) and teachers' (42%) ratings of competence than did the illness intensity variables.