Behavioral Profile of Children with Chronic Skin Disease According to Caregivers’ Assessment

Abstract

Studies indicate that children with chronic diseases show higher frequency or likelihood of developingof behavioral problems, such as anxiety, depression and relationship difficulties. However, there are few empirical studies on behavioral problems in children with chronic skin disease. This study aimed to investigate the caregivers' assessment of the behavioral profile of children with chronic disease. Sixty-six caregivers answered the CBCL (Child Behavior Check-list). Results about global functioning showed similar frequencies of children evaluated as having clinical and non-clinical behaviors problems. Concerning gender, boys displayed behavioral problems more often, when compared to girls. Although most caregivers evaluated the children as having high social competence, a high percentage of children were evaluated as having low social competence. This suggests that the occurrence of behavior problems could be associated with chronic skin disease.