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Health Status and Peer Relationships in Early Adolescence: The Role of Peer Contact, Self-esteem, and Social Anxiety

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Abstract

We examined associations between children’s health status and the quality of their peer relationships, as well as factors that may account for individual variation in the quality of chronically ill and healthy children’s peer relationships. Our sample included 268 children (138 boys; 130 girls) with 149 European-Americans and 119 African-Americans. There were 91 children with a chronic illness; 35 with asthma, 26 with diabetes, and 30 with obesity. Chronically ill children were characterized by teachers as displaying less prosocial behavior, less overt aggression, and less relational aggression with peers than healthy children. Chronically ill children reported lower levels of peer contact and higher levels of social anxiety than healthy children. Among chronically ill children those with high self-esteem were more prosocial and less aggressive than those with low self-esteem. Our findings suggest that chronically ill children are at risk for peer relationship difficulties, but that self-esteem may serve as a protective factor against poor peer relationships for some chronically ill children.

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Acknowledgments

This investigation was part of a larger longitudinal research project, supported by a grant to Carol MacKinnon-Lewis from the William T. Grant Foundation, examining family and school factors that influence early adolescents’ adjustment during the transition to middle school. The present study is based on a thesis submitted by Elizabeth McCarroll to the faculty of Texas Tech University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the MS degree. The authors would like to thank Allison Allmon, Kelly Barrow, Angela Walker, and all of the graduate and undergraduate research assistants who worked on this study. We are also grateful to the parents and children who participated in the research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Family Sciences, Texas Women’s University, P.O. Box 425769, Denton, TX, 76204, USA

    Elizabeth M. McCarroll

  2. Applied Psychology Program, Penn State Berks, 7009 Tulpehocken Road, Reading, PA, 19610, USA

    Eric W. Lindsey

  3. Department of Child and Family Studies, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA

    Carol MacKinnon-Lewis

  4. National Institute on Drug Abuse, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Jessica Campbell Chambers

  5. ACE Leadership Program, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IL, USA

    James M. Frabutt

Authors
  1. Elizabeth M. McCarroll
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  2. Eric W. Lindsey
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  3. Carol MacKinnon-Lewis
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  4. Jessica Campbell Chambers
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  5. James M. Frabutt
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Correspondence to Eric W. Lindsey.

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McCarroll, E.M., Lindsey, E.W., MacKinnon-Lewis, C. et al. Health Status and Peer Relationships in Early Adolescence: The Role of Peer Contact, Self-esteem, and Social Anxiety. J Child Fam Stud 18, 473–485 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-008-9251-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-008-9251-9

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