Maternal correlates of health status in adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease

People with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) manifest great variability in health status, but little research has examined correlates of this variability, especially among adolescents with IBD. This study examined family dysfunction, maternal physical symptoms and maternal positive affect (PA) as correlates of variability in depression, pain/fatigue, functional disability and bowel movement frequency among adolescents with IBD. We also tested whether these relationships were independent of maternal negative affect (NA).

Participants were 62 adolescents with IBD (36 with Crohn's disease (CD) and 26 with ulcerative colitis [UC]) and their mothers. Mothers completed measures about the family and themselves, and adolescents provided health status measures.

Controlling for the duration since diagnosis, we found that family dysfunction correlated significantly and positively with bowel movement frequency of the adolescent (partial r=.27), and mother's PA correlated inversely with adolescent's depression (partial r=-.30) and functional disability (partial r=-.28). These relationships remained significant after controlling for maternal NA. Maternal symptoms were not related to the adolescent's health status. Analyses indicated that relationships did not differ for the two IBD subtypes.

Family dysfunction and maternal PA appear to account for some of previously unexplained variance in the health status of adolescents with IBD. Family interventions should be explored to determine whether these familial and maternal factors influence the health of the adolescent, and whether improving family functioning can lead to health improvements in the children.