Mental health and psychological functioning in children and adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease: A comparison with children having other chronic illnesses and with healthy children

Psychiatric disorders and behavior problems were found to be more common in children and adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) than in matched comparison groups with tension headache and diabetes as well as in healthy children. The study comprised 80 Ss (aged 9–18 yrs), 20 in each group. The multimethod, multicomparison approach that was used to study the mental health of the Ss with IBD showed that, on most of the variables, Ss with IBD had the highest levels of psychiatric disturbance among the groups studied. Many Ss denied their problems. This may be due to the type of illness, its social consequences and the embarrassment experienced by the children. Discrepancies were found between the Ss' and their mothers' replies.