Abstract
The impact of short stature on children is commonly assessed in terms of psychosocial consequences. Proxy respondents and formal behavioural performance tests constitute standard methods in the evaluation of growth hormone therapy in children of short stature. Therefore, a self-administered, short and simple adjective check-list was developed and tested on 342 children of both sexes, aged 9–13 years. Six dimensions covering alertness, self-esteem, mood, elation, stability and vitality were derived after factor analysis. High internal consistency reliability was found for all dimensions. Modest correlations with height, reaching statistical significance for alertness, mood and vitality, were observed. Girls described themselves as having lower self-esteem and vitality than boys, while boys had lower scores for elation. It was concluded that the measure was relevant and potentially useful in children with short stature.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Money J, Pollitt E. Studies in the psychology of dwarfism. II. Personality maturation and response to growth hormone treatment in hypopituitary dwarfism. J Pediatr 1966; 68: 381–390.
Drash PW. Psychologic counselling in dwarfism. In: Gardner LJ ed. Endocrine and Genetic Diseases of Childhood. Philadelphia: WB Saunders, 1969: 1014–1022.
Stabler B, Underwood E (eds.). Slow Grows the Child: Psychosocial Aspects of Growth Delay. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1986.
Drotar D, Owens R, Gosthold J. Personality adjustment of children and adolescents with hypopituitarism. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 1980; 11: 59–66.
Young-Hyman D. Effects of short stature on social competence. In: Stabler B, Underwood LE, eds. Slow Grows the Child. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1986: 27–45.
Voss LD, Bailey BJR, Mulligan J, Wilkin TJ, Betts PR. Short stature and school performance—the Wessex Growth Study. Acta Paediatr Scand 1991; 377(suppl): 29–31.
Holmes CS, et al. Longitudinal evaluation of behaviour patterns in children with short stature. In: Stabler B, Underwood LE, eds. Slow Grows the Child. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1986: 1–12.
Dean HJ, Taggart TL, Fish DG, Friesch MG. The educational, vocational and marital status of growth hormone-deficient adults treated with growth hormone during childhood. Am J Dis Child 1985; 39: 1105–1110.
Jobs JC, Chicaud J, Toublanc JE, et al. Le devenir à long terme des nains hypophysaires traités par l'hormone de croissance. Arch Fr Pediatr 1988; 45: 169–173.
Galaetzer A, Arah O, Beit Halachmi N, et al. Rehabilitation status of young adults with GH deficiency after termination of therapy. Paediatr Adolesc Endocrinol 1987; 16: 257–267.
McGauley GA. Quality of life assessment before and after growth hormone treatment in adults with growth hormone deficiency. Acta Paediatr Scand 1989; 356(suppl): 70–72.
Björk S, Jönsson B, Westphal O, Levin JE. Quality of life of adults with growth hormone deficiency: a controlled study. Acta Paediatr Scand 1989; 356(suppl): 55–59.
Kirschner B, Guyatt G. A methodological framework for assessing health indexes. J Chron Dis 1985; 38: 27–36.
Aitken RS. Measurement of feelings using visual analogue scales. Proc Roy Soc Med 1969; 62: 989–993.
Guyatt GH, Bombardier C, Tugwell PX. Measuring disease-specific quality of life in clinical trials. Can Med Assoc J 1986; 1345: 889–895.
Dimenäs E, Dahlöf C, Olofsson B, Wiklund I. An instrument for quantifying subjective symptoms among untreated and treated hypertensives. Development and documentation. J Clin Res Pharmacoepidemiol 1991; 4: 205–217.
Greene JG. The Social and Psychological Origins of the Climacteric Syndrome. Glasgow: Gower Press, 1984.
Wiklund I, Lindvall K, Swedberg K, Zupkis RV. Self-assessment of quality of life in severe heart failure. Scand J Psychol 1987; 28: 220–225.
Carmines EG, Zeller RA. Reliability and validity assessment. In: Sullivan JL, Niemi RG, eds. Series Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences. Sage University Papers, Beverly Hills/London/New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1983.
Shumaker S, Anderson R, Czajhowski S. Psychological tests and scales. In: Spilker B, ed. Quality of Life Assessments in Clinical Trials. New York: Raven Press, 1990: 95–113.
Cronbach LJ. Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika 1951; 16: 297–334.
Ouvinen-Birgerstam P. Jag tycker jag är. Manual. Stockholm: Psykologiförlaget AB, 1985.
Kaiser HF, Caffrey J. Alpha factor analysis. Psychometrika 1965; 30: 1–14.
Fitzpatrick R, Fletcher A, Gore S, Spiegelhalter D, Cox D. Quality of life measures in health care. I: Applications and issues in assessment. Br Med J 1992; 305: 1074–1077.
Mokken RJ. A Theory and Procedure of Scale Analysis. Hague: Monton, 1971.
Wirén L, Wiklund I, Karlberg J, Albertsson-Wikland K. A new adjective checklist measuring well-being in children with short stature. Hormone Res 1992.
Tibblin G, Bengtsson C, Furunes B, Lapidus L. Prevalence of symptoms in men and women. The population studies of men and women in Gothenburg, Sweden. Scand J Prim Health Care 1990; 8: 9–17.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wiklund, I., Wirén, L., Erling, A. et al. A new self-assessment questionnaire to measure well-being in children, particularly those of short stature. Qual Life Res 3, 449–455 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00435397
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00435397