Monograph 13. The interrelationships between the asthmatic child's dependency behavior, his perception of his illness, and his mother's perception of his illness.

The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate the interrelationships between the asthmatic child's dependency behavior, his perception of his illness, and his mother's perception of his illness. The dependency behavior of the asthmatic children was also compared with that of healthy children. The subjects of the study were 57 asthmatic children aged 8 to 12 years and their mothers, and 54 healthy children of the same age and their mothers. The asthmatic children were recruited from (1) patients attending the allergy clinic at a children's hospital in a large metropolitan area of Western Pennsylvania (n = 44) and (2) the private practice of a physician located in the same geographic area (n = 13). The healthy children were recruited from two sources. The majority of them (n = 47) were recruited from the children who visited the medical clinic at the hospital from which the asthmatic children were recruited. These children came to the clinic for physical examination, eye examination, or minor health problems. A few healthy children (n = 7) were recruited from families who were acquainted with the investigator or her friends. Children in both groups were free of physical handicapping conditions, had no history of psychiatric treatment, and were enrolled in at least grade three of an elementary school. The children in the healthy group were free of all chronic illnesses and the asthmatic children did not have any other chronic illness besides asthma. Self-report questionnaires were used to collect data concerning the variables under study. The Self-Administered Dependency Questionnaire (SADQ) and the Children's Autonomy Questionnaire (AUT-MC-3) were used to assess the child's dependency behavior. The children's perceptions of asthma were assessed by the Children's Perception Questionnaire (CPQ). The Mother's Perception Questionnaire (MPQ) was used to measure mothers' perceptions of their children's asthma. Demographic data were obtained from a questionnaire designed for each group of subjects. The data were solicited through two approaches: direct contact with each mother-child pair and by mail. The scores from the SADQ, AUT-MC-3, CPQ and the MPQ were analyzed. The SADQ scores and the AUT-MC-3 scores which measured dependency behavior were used separately in the analysis. The Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient (r) was used to estimate the relationships between the variables under study. The Independent Student t-test was used to determine the differences in dependency behavior of the asthmatic children and healthy children.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)