The self concept of adolescents with spina bifida.

A study of the children's self concepts was conducted as part of the twelve year follow-up phase of the Greater London Council's Spina Bifida Survey. On the three measures used, there were few significant differences between the spina bifida children and controls, nor between the spina bifida children divided according to such variables as disability level or school type. It was hypothesised that, at twelve years, the children had not yet developed sufficient self-awareness or ability to appreciate the wider implications of their disability, therefore a further sample of spina bifida teenagers was tested. The results from both spina bifida groups showed few significant differences, suggesting that the self concepts of young people with spina bifida in early and later adolescence are neither markedly different from those of their peers, nor associated with degree of disability level or type of school attended. Early hospitalisation was negatively correlated with self concept at twelve years (equivalent data were not available for the teenagers) and this finding is discussed.