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Psychologic adjustment of human immunodeficiency virus-infected school-age children
1Pediatric Branch, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892.
Insights
School-aged children with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) reported positive self-perceptions, but parents noted more anxiety and social issues. Adverse events and disease progression correlated with behavioral and social challenges.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Psychology
- Infectious Diseases
- Child Development
Background:
- Psychosocial adjustment is crucial for children living with chronic illnesses.
- Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in children presents unique challenges to development and well-being.
- Understanding factors influencing adjustment is vital for supportive interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the psychosocial adjustment of school-aged children with HIV.
- To identify factors associated with their adjustment levels.
- To compare self-reported adjustment with parent-reported observations.
Main Methods:
- Administered depression, anxiety, and self-concept measures to children.
- Collected parent reports on behavior problems, social functioning, personality, and life events.
- Assessed disease stage as a correlating factor.
Main Results:
- Children reported low depression/anxiety and positive self-concept.
- Parents perceived children as more anxious and less socially active than normative samples.
- A significant proportion of children exhibited maladaptive social functioning, anxiety, and conduct problems.
- Adverse life events and disease progression were linked to increased behavioral and social issues.
Conclusions:
- Discrepancies exist between child self-reports and parent observations regarding psychosocial adjustment.
- HIV-positive children face significant psychosocial challenges, influenced by life events and disease progression.
- Targeted support is needed to address social functioning, anxiety, and conduct issues in this population.
Abstract:
We investigated the psychosocial adjustment of school-aged, human immunodeficiency virus-positive children and factors associated with level of adjustment. Participants were primarily transfusion-infected children living in middle-class families. We administered measures of depression, anxiety, and self-concept to children, and measures of behavior problems, social functioning, personality characteristics, and life events to parents. An index of disease stage was also collected. Children reported experiencing low levels of depressive and anxious affect and generally felt positively about themselves. By contrast, parents saw their children as more anxious and less socially active than respective standardization samples. A greater than expected proportion of these children, as reported by their parents, scored in the maladaptive range on measures of social functioning, anxiety, and conduct problems. Experience of adversive life events and progression of the disease were associated with more behavioral and social problems. Findings are discussed in terms of their generalizability and implications for future research.