Psychological and social concomitants of sickle cell anemia in adolescents

Based on the hypothesis that adolescents with sickle cell anemia experience difficulty in mastering the normal developmental tasks of adolescence because of the characteristics of their disease, this study examined body satisfaction, depression, and social withdrawal in 24 adolescents with sickle cell anemia. They were compared to 24 healthy adolescents matched on sex, race, age, and socioeconomic status. As predicted, the sickle cell anemic adolescents reported less satisfaction with their bodies and more symptoms of depres-sion than their healthy peers. In addition, they were found to spend less time in social and nonsocial activities. These results support the hypothesis that adolescents with sickle cell anemia are at risk for psychosocial adjustment problems and suggest at least three areas of adjustment that may be affected. KEY WORDS: sickle cell anemia; adolescence; chronic illness. Sickle cell anemia (SCA), the most prevalent of a group of disorders involv-ing abnormal hemoglobin known collectively as sickle cell disease, is a chronic hereditary disease that affects as many as one of every 400 black Americans (Pochedly, 1971). Typically the disease first manifests itself during early 'The authors express their appreciation to the adolescents and their families who participated in the study and to Gerald Mansfield and the staff of the Sickle Cell Foundation of Georgia for their cooperation. Thanks are also extended to members of Eta Kappa chapter of Delta Sigma Theta sorority for their assistance in data collection and to Rex Forehand, Jack Jenkins, Ben Lahey, and Angela A. Lee for valuable suggestions on all aspects of the study