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Developmental, Gender, and Health-Related Variations in Self-Competence and Depressed Mood Among School-Aged Urban Children with Asthma: A Pilot Study

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Abstract

This pilot study examined associations among asthma status, gender, self-competence, and depressed mood across 2 years of middle childhood in a sample of 57 urban children. Results revealed no differences across health status in self-competence and depressed mood. Girls showed a significant increase in levels of self-competence from Year -1 to 2. Higher levels of self-competence were associated with lower levels of depressed mood at Year 1, at Year 2, and from Year 1 to 2. Self-competence accounted for a larger amount of the variance in depressed mood for girls than for boys. Changes in levels of self-competence were significantly associated with changes in depressed mood for girls only. Results suggest meaningful gender-based differences in the socioemotional trajectories of school-aged children, which should be considered when designing preventative interventions in urban environments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Child and Family Psychiatry, Brown University School of Medicine, cpProvidence, Rhode Island, 02912

    Daphne Koinis Mitchell

  2. University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, 02125-3393

    Karla Klein Murdock & Jennifer Bender Berz

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Mitchell, D.K., Murdock, K.K. & Berz, J.B. Developmental, Gender, and Health-Related Variations in Self-Competence and Depressed Mood Among School-Aged Urban Children with Asthma: A Pilot Study. Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings 11, 343–355 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JOCS.0000045354.93521.9b

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JOCS.0000045354.93521.9b

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