Five psychosocial factors were empirically derived from a questionnaire administered to 175 asthmatic children who were taken from three subsamples representing hospitalized inpatients, outpatients and private practice patients. The scales included three measures of anxiety labeled Despair Over Social Debilitation, Quality of Life, and Dread of Illness, one attitude scale labeled Orientation Towards Compliance, and one scale labeled Family Communication. These scales correlated with measures of debilitation during the 6 month period prior to treatment, which included the number of asthma attacks, emergency room visits, days hospitalized, days of school missed and parental ratings of interference in physically strenuous activities. Two groups of children were defined for each psychosocial factor by a mean split of the scores. The incidence of children with relatively much anxiety as defined by three of these scales and a poor attitude about compliance was greatest in the patient subsample and least in the private practice subsample. Inpatients also experienced the most debilitation during the 6 month period before testing. Follow-up measures of debilitation were recorded for the 6 month period post discharge. The relationship between the debilitation experienced by the children and their anxiety was evaluated. Patient groups with much and little anxiety both showed comparable and significant reductions in debilitation post hospital treatment. The results were interpreted to indicate that the anxiety assessed upon admission was the consequence of a history of poor medical manageability. The anxiety assessed did not appear to contribute to poor control of the illness.

This experiment evaluated the effects on asthma in children of altering their psychological environment. Twenty-five asthmatic children were studied medically and psychologically during periods in which they lived with their families and during an experimental separation in which they had no contact with their families but were cared for in their own homes by a substitute parent. It was predicted that 13 children would respond positively (show improvement) and that 12 would respond negatively (show no improvement in asthma) to separation. For the predicted positive group, all measurements of asthma indicated a statistically significant decrease in symptoms during the period of family separation followed by an increase in symptoms upon the family's return. For the group of 12 predicted negatives, only one (history of daily asthma) of four measurements suggested improvement during separation. It appears that a brief, specially designed, diagnostic interview may be useful in assessing the relevance of psychological variables to asthma.

The present study sought to provide information on the question of whether there are differences between asthmatic subgroups (rapidly remitting, intermediate, and steroid dependent) in general “neurotic” or other personality characteristics. A variety of psychological tests and behavior rating data was obtained on 84 asthmatic children in residence at CARIH for approximately one year.

The central aim of this investigation was to examine the hypothesis that the asthmatic syndrome more often functions as a learned, defensive, response among rapidly remitting than among steroid dependent children. The view was expressed that asthma among steroid dependent children was linked more frequently to infectious or allergic stimuli. Two predictions were derived regarding the relationship between age of onset of asthma and certain parental attitudes.

Asthmatic children were divided into two groups based on response of their asthmatic symptomatology to separation from the parental home. The rapidly remitting group (Group 1) refers to those children who dramatically became symptom-free and remained so without medication while at JNHAC. The steroid-dependent group (Group 2) refers to those children requiring continuous maintenance corticosteroids for symptom control. In this study an initial assessment of the relative weight of some psychological influences in the two groups was undertaken. On the basis of parents' reports, significantly more neurotic symptoms and a later age of onset of the asthma were characteristic of the rapidly remitting group. There was, however, no significant difference in the frequency with which asthma-related symptoms--e.g., coughing and nasal discharge --were reported. Results of a parent-attitude test suggested that parents of rapidly remitting children more often subscribe to certain attitudes on child rearing and family relationships that are generally accepted as psychologically undesirable--e.g., hostile rejecting--than do parents of steroid-dependent children. The data were interpreted as indicative of more frequent occurrence of psychological disturbance among rapidly remitting children and their families, although certain reservations were noted. The importance of treating these groups separately in future psychological investigations of the asthmatic child has been emphasized.

Journal of PersonalityVolume 27, Issue 2 p. 250-258 The effects of psychological stress as a function of need and cognitive control1 James Hardison, James Hardison University of KentuckySearch for more papers by this authorKenneth Purcell, Kenneth Purcell VA Hospital, Denver, ColoradoSearch for more papers by this author James Hardison, James Hardison University of KentuckySearch for more papers by this authorKenneth Purcell, Kenneth Purcell VA Hospital, Denver, ColoradoSearch for more papers by this author First published: June 1959 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.1959.tb01833.xCitations: 10 1 Adapted from an M A thesis, carried out by the senior author under the direction of the junior author, in the Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Citing Literature Volume27, Issue2June 1959Pages 250-258 RelatedInformation

Each subject was rated as to overt antisocial tendencies on the basis of social history data from civilian and military life which related to aggressive activity. Among the results was the finding that "antisocial Ss differ from nonantisocial Ss in quantity and quality of fantasy aggressions, the former producing not only a larger number of fantasy aggressions but also finding it less necessary to obscure or minimize the hostile impulse. The superego variable as measured by anticipated internal punishments was found to be of far greater significance in inhibiting antisocial behavior than fear of retaliatory punishment which did not even differentiate between groups." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)