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Journal of Pediatric Psychology Advance Access published online on December 29, 2005
Journal of Pediatric Psychology, doi:10.1093/jpepsy/jsj095
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© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Pediatric Psychology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Received February 11, 2005
Revised December 1, 2005
Accepted December 7, 2005

Brief Report

Brief Report: Illness Uncertainty and Dispositional Self-Focus in Adolescents and Young Adults with Childhood-Onset Asthma

Jill C. Van Pelt PhD 1 *, Larry L. Mullins PhD 2, Melissa Y. Carpentier MS 3, and Cortney Wolfe-Christensen BS 3

1 Division of Pediatric Clinical Neuroscience, University of Minnesota Medical School, MMC 486, 420 Delaware Street, S.E., Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455
2 University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
3 Oklahoma State University

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Jill C. Van Pelt, E-mail: vanp0039{at}umn.edu


  Abstract

Objective To investigate differences in self-focused attention between college students with childhood-onset asthma and a group of healthy controls and to determine whether self-focused attention mediates the relationship between illness uncertainty and psychological distress among individuals with asthma. Methods Forty-two adolescent and young adult participants with childhood-onset asthma and 40 age- and gender-matched healthy participants completed measures of self-focused attention, perceived illness uncertainty, psychological distress, and health status. Results Adolescents and young adults with childhood-onset asthma evidenced an increased tendency to engage in private self-focus compared to age- and gender-matched peers without a chronic illness history. Self-focused attention also mediated the relationship between perceived illness uncertainty and psychological distress among those with asthma. Conclusions The need for self-monitoring in asthma management may result in an increased propensity to self-focus, which may result in heightened levels of psychological distress.

Keywords: illness uncertainty; pediatric asthma; self-focused attention.
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