OBJECTIVE: To characterize children with asthma by their stress processing at school and their psychosocial functioning. To establish similarities and differences between children with and without asthma. METHODS: Participants were 79 children with asthma and 359 children without asthma (ages 8-12). Children completed questionnaires on stress processing and their well-being at school. Parents filled in a questionnaire on behavior problems, and teachers provided data on school performance and absence rate. RESULTS: Children with asthma had higher scores on absence rates, teacher-rated well-being, internalizing behavior problems, occurrence of "rejection by peers," and use of aggression when coping with "problems with school work." However, using discriminant analyses, the groups could not reliably be distinguished from one another by these variables. CONCLUSIONS: Children with asthma are similar to other children with regard to their stress processing at school and their psychosocial functioning. The value of conducting multivariate analysis over several univariate tests is underscored.
OBJECTIVE: To characterize children with asthma by their stress processing at school and their psychosocial functioning. To establish similarities and differences between children with and without asthma. METHODS:Participants were 79 children with asthma and 359 children without asthma (ages 8-12). Children completed questionnaires on stress processing and their well-being at school. Parents filled in a questionnaire on behavior problems, and teachers provided data on school performance and absence rate. RESULTS:Children with asthma had higher scores on absence rates, teacher-rated well-being, internalizing behavior problems, occurrence of "rejection by peers," and use of aggression when coping with "problems with school work." However, using discriminant analyses, the groups could not reliably be distinguished from one another by these variables. CONCLUSIONS:Children with asthma are similar to other children with regard to their stress processing at school and their psychosocial functioning. The value of conducting multivariate analysis over several univariate tests is underscored.