J Korean Child Neurol Soc.
2010 May;18(1):58-65.
Psychological Characteristics of Children and Adolescents with Headaches
- Affiliations
-
- 1Department of Pediatrics, Korea University College of Medicine, Korea. sheun@korea.ac.kr
- 2Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Pusan National University, Korea.
- 3Graduate school of education, Seoul Women's University, Korea.
Abstract
- PURPOSE
Headaches are associated with psychiatric illness, and can affect all aspects of a functioning child. We examined the behavioral and emotional problems of children and adolescents suffering from headaches.
METHODS
Children and adolescents(N=269) aged 4 to 17 suffering from headaches and their age-matched controls(N=31) were assessed using the Korean Child Behavior Checklist(K-CBCL), Korean Personality Inventory for Children (KPI-C), and Children's Depression Inventory(CDI).
RESULTS
Psychological profiles were analyzed in three stages. First, the primary headaches had a statistically significant tendency to show problems in anxiety, depression, somatization, and psychosis scales of KPI-C, and somatic complaints, thought, and internalizing problems of K-CBCL than in the control group(P<0.05). Second, migraines(N=162) and tension-type headaches(N=57) showed no statistically significant difference(P>0.05). Finally, the chronic daily headaches(CDH)(N=43) had statistically significantly higher scores in CDI and somatization of KPI-C than in the episodic headaches(P<0.05). In respect to ego-resilience scale of KPI-C, CDH had statistically significantly lower score than in the episodic headaches(P<0.05).
CONCLUSION
Children and adolescents with headaches show greater internalizing problems(anxiety, depression, somatization, and thought problems) than their healthy peers. Patients with CDH will have a negative effect on their adaptations because they have a lower ego-resilience and more symptoms of depression and somatization than children suffering from episodic headaches and controls.
