Children coping with impaired appearance: social and psychologic influences

Coping with impaired appearance presents difficulties for children. This study is based on interviews of children with vitiligo, a disfiguring disorder that involves depigmentation of the skin, and focuses on social and psychologic factors that predict effectiveness of coping. Age plays an extremely important part in adjustment, with the junior high school years especially traumatic. Change of location or situation also is a predictor of stress. Children who develop other competencies that build self-esteem cope well with the disorder. These and other factors are explored in depth, and strategies for helping child patients with disfiguring disorders are suggested.