Psychological adjustment of physically sick children: relationship with temperament.

The contribution of temperament and duration of illness in the variability in the psychological adjustment of children with chronic physical illness was studied. The temperament and psychological adjustment of a group of 50 children with chronic physical illnesses not involving the brain and a matched control group of 50 physically healthy children were assessed through Temperament Schedule and Childhood Psychopathology Measurement Schedule developed and standardized by the first author. Results indicated that sick children were less psychologically adjusted than the healthy controls and more adjusted than children referred for psychiatric concerns. Twice as many physically sick children (32%) showed maladjustment than did healthy children (16%). Temperament, particularly low distractibility, made a significant contribution to predicted variance (23%) in maladjustment whereas duration of illness did not.