Emotional behaviors in chronically ill children.

Empathy, emotional responsiveness, depression, aggression, and self-concept in 80 chronically ill and 40 well school-age children (9-11 years) were examined in a quasi-experimental study. The ill children had either diabetes or asthma. Results suggested a similarity of emotional functioning for empathy, emotional responsiveness, and depression in the ill children. The ill children had significantly higher levels of these behaviors than the well children. The groups of ill children did not significantly differ from each other in these areas. The diabetic and asthmatic children significantly differed in aggression and self-concept. The diabetic children, however, did not differ from the well children in self-concept. The asthmatic children had the lowest self-reported aggression while the diabetic children had the highest. Neither ill group differed from the well children in aggression.