BRONCHINE ASTMA SERGANČIŲ IKIMOKYKLINIO AMŽIAUS VAIKŲ PSICHOLOGINIO PRISITAIKYMO, TĖVŲ KONFLIKTIŠKUMO IR AUKLĖJIMO BŪDŲ SĄSAJOS.

In this paper, we analyse the emotional and behavioral problems of 45 children (31 boys and 14 girls) with bronchial asthma, (BA), aged two to five years. The mothers of the children filled in the CBCL/1½-5 (Child Behavior Checklist), Block Parental Practices questionnaire, the Conflicts and Problem-solving Scales (CPS) and the demographic questionnaire. The results have shown that children with BA have more internal problems as compared with healthy children as well as with general population. Mothers of children with BA practice more of psychological control than do mothers of healthy children. The results suggest that the practice of psychological control is related to greater behavioral problems. The results also show that the use of physical punishment is related to external problems of BA children. In the BA group, the severity of parental conflicts is related to behavioral problems, and the use of physical aggression during the conflicts is related to the use of corporal punishment. The level of education of mothers proved to be an important factor in predicting the psychological adjustment of children with BA. Mothers with a lower education report more internal and external problems of children with BA. It appears also that the a lower education level of mothers is related to the more frequent use of corporal punishment. The regression analysis has proven the level of maternal education to be predictive of 40 % of internal problems, and together with physical aggression during parental conflicts it explains 56 % of data. Physical aggression during parental conflicts seems to be the only predictive factor and explains 33 % of data on external problems. Our results disclose the importance of psychosocial factors -- the type and level of parental conflicts as the well as prevalence of psychological control --. in the adjustment of children with BA. These factors can be sources of BA-inducing stress. Our results have shown the level of mother's education to be one of the strongest predictors of internal problems of a child with BA. An important direction of future research could be elucidation of this factor--presumably looking for hindrances in the mother--child relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]