Premium
Behavioural and mental health profiles in childhood hay fever
Author(s) -
Watten Reidulf G.,
Faleide Asbjørn O.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
british journal of health psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.05
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 2044-8287
pISSN - 1359-107X
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8287.1996.tb00515.x
Subject(s) - cbcl , hay fever , somatization , psychology , aggression , coping (psychology) , analysis of variance , anxiety , hay , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , medicine , psychiatry , allergy , agronomy , immunology , biology
Objectives . To investigate the association between childhood hay fever and emotional and behavioural disturbances. Design . Cross‐sectional controlled clinical study. The hay fever group was compared with an age‐matched control group without any atopic symptoms. Mean age for the groups was 7.8 years (SD 0.7). Method . The dependent variables were normalized t ‐scores on the Child Behavior Check List (CBCL 4–16, version 2.2; Achenbach & Edelbrock, 1983). In series of ANOVAs, the hay fever group ( N = 43, 23 boys and 20 girls) was compared with healthy controls ( N = 51, 28 boys and 23 girls). Results . The hay fever group had significantly higher scores on depression, withdrawal, somatic complaints and aggression. They also had a significantly higher total problem score and higher scores on the internalizing and the externalizing scales. There were no differences on the social competence scales. Conclusions . Children suffering from hay fever show other behavioural and emotional coping patterns than normals. Investigators should be reluctant in attributing the CBCL somatic symptom scale to psychological disturbances.