The psychological impact of idiopathic scoliosis on the adolescent female. A preliminary multi-center study.

Seventy-two female idiopathic scoliosis patients, ages 12 to 16, who were receiving either no treatment/observation, the Scolitron, a brace, or who had undergone surgery were tested to determine the psychological impact of scoliosis. Mothers of the patients also served as subjects. A normal group of adolescents served as control subjects. Results showed that all groups were less likely to feel that their health status was due to chance than the controls. No other psychological differences were found between treatment groups, which contradicts previous reports of greater psychological distress among brace patients as compared with Scolitron (TM) patients. It was found that mothers' attitudes toward their children's illnesses were strongly and positively related to their children's attitudes toward their illnesses, and that these attitudes were strongly correlated with psychological distress. These findings underscore the need to consider the parent-child relationship when treating the adolescent patient.