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Psychosocial Functioning in Girls with Turner's Syndrome and Short Stature: Social Skills, Behavior Problems, and Self-Concept

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The social relationships and behavioral characteristics of 17 preadolescent and adolescent girls with Turner's syndrome were assessed in comparison to a control group of 16 short stature girls of comparable age, height, verbal IQ and family socioeconomic status. The assessment included parent and teacher ratings of social and behavioral functioning as well as subjective self-report data. The results depict the Turner's syndrome subjects as doing more poorly in terms of peer relationships and having more behavioral problems than short stature controls. The Turner's syndrome subjects were described by parents and teachers as having fewer friends, needing more structure to socialize and to complete tasks, and having more difficulty understanding social cues. Behavioral problems were endorsed on all subscales of the Child Behavior Checklist with most problems in the area of immature, socially isolated behavior. The results are discussed in relation to the role of delayed sexual maturation, other physical anomalies, and brain maturation.

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    This investigation was supported in part by Biomedical Research Funds from the Children's Orthopedic Hospital and Medical Center. The authors thank Drs. V. Sybert, R. Pagon, R. Mauseth, V. Kelley, and V. Lewis, R. N., Melanie Pepin, M.S. and J. Johnson, M.S. for their help in subject recruitment. We also thank Ms. Marianne Bischell for her help in data collection and Ms. Marge Ferris for her preparation of the manuscript.

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