Psychological adjustment to inflammatory bowel disease: informational control and private self-consciousness

Until recently the psychological and social factors related to inflammatory bowel disease have been studied as causes rather than as consequences of this condition. This study looks at the impact of these diseases by investigating correlates of psychological adjustment to inflammatory bowel disease. A curvilinear hypothesis predicted that patient adjustment to living with the disease would be related to the amount of information possessed about the disease, and that this relationship would be mediated by the patient's degree of private self-consciousness. Questionnaire returned by 143 members of the Houston Chapter of the National Foundation for Ileitis and Colitis were analyzed. Results indicate that a patient's general level of self-esteem and social competence is the best predictor of disease-related adjustment. Information and adjustment were inversely related for patients with a high degree of private self-consciousness, and unrelated at lower levels of this variable. Perception of control through information predicted adjustment better than information per se.