Social Functioning in Children with a Chronic Illness

Abstract

Behavioural, cognitive, and affective aspects of social functioning of 107 children with a chronic illness were studied. The aim of the study was twofold: (1) to describe peer interaction of children with a chronic illness in comparison with normative data of healthy children; (2) to examine whether peer interaction was related to the illness characteristics physical restrictions and pain. Peer interaction was assessed with measures of social activities (CBCL), parent-reported social skills (CABS), child-reported social skills (MESSY), social self-esteem (SPPC), and social anxiety (SASK). Results showed no differences between diagnosis groups, suggesting that the social consequences of chronic illness are not diagnosis specific. Compared with healthy norms, chronically ill children reported less aggressive behaviour. The parent-report measures suggested a similar trend. Children with chronic illness also tended to display more submissive behaviour than healthy norms, as perceived by their parents. With regard to illness characteristics, both physical restrictions and pain were associated with restricted social activities, but not with other measures of social peer interaction. Children who display submissive behaviour and children who are restricted in their social activities should receive extra attention because they are especially vulnerable for problems in their social development.

Health Status and Peer Relationships in Early Adolescence: The Role of Peer Contact, Self-esteem, and Social Anxiety

“…Specifically, chronically ill children were rated by teachers as displaying less prosocial, less overt, and less relational aggression with peers than their healthy counterparts. Our findings are consistent with previous work that found chronically ill children reported engaging in less prosocial behavior with peers compared to normative data on healthy children (Meijer et al 2000b), and with evidence that both peers and teachers identify chronically ill children as being less aggressive (Gartstein et al 2000;Noll et al 1996). It is worth noting that the research by Meijer et al (2000a, b), and Noll and his colleagues (Gartstein et al 2000;Noll et al 1996) included children with serious, physically debilitating chronic illnesses, such as cystic fibrosis, juvenile chronic arthritis, constitutional eczema (Meijer et al 2000a, b), and sickle cell disease (Gartstein et al 2000;Noll et al 1996), whereas our investigation focused only on children with asthma, diabetes, and obesity.…”

Developing a follow-up survey focused on participation of children and youth with acquired brain injuries after discharge from inpatient rehabilitation

“…Participation is differentiated from Activity, another ICF term which pertains to the execution of tasks and actions, by its focus on either being or doing with others in a social context. Children learn how to interact, work and live with others through their participation in real-life situations and activities [1,2,[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13].…”

Developmental pathways in food allergy: a new theoretical framework

“…A chronic condition may affect and/or interact with already existing normative demands and changes in socialization (13). Thus, although most children follow normative developmental pathways and encounter predictable transition points, disease‐specific pathways may be embedded within these trajectories and influence the phenotypic expression of physiology, psychology and behaviour (10).…”