Relationship between health status and psychological adjustment among children with chronic conditions.

The extent to which children's psychological adjustment is affected by the presence of chronic physical illness is a subject of controversy. Data obtained at entry to a study of children with chronic illness show that among the 81 children greater than or equal to 5 years of age there is little relationship between psychological adjustment and traditional morbidity measures such as days hospitalized and days in bed. There is, however, a moderate but significant relationship between psychological adjustment and both the number of days absent from school and the child's functional status: children who have more absences and those with poor functional status have poorer psychological adjustment. The data also suggest that these relationships may differ in size within demographic subgroups of the population, something that may explain current controversies over the relationship between the child's chronic condition and psychological adjustment.