“…18,46 -48 Studies of premorbid psychological traits in surgical patients suggest that patients high in trait anxiety and low in cognitive maturity, 35 and older patients 36 experience poorer psychological outcomes immediately following surgery (Table 3). In the Clayson et al study, 36 patients under the age of 15 years remained within the normal Approximately half of the women were or had been married (15), had children (14) and/or worked outside the home (13); all patients were judged to be of normal intelligence or above; a total of 18 patients were judged to suffer mental disturbance due to scoliosis (2 severe, 7 moderate, 9 slight; 10 had been psychiatric outpatients and 7 had a family history of mental illness); 16 patients were considered to have good or adequate socio-psychological functioning, 10 patients were considered to have good or adequate personality-psychological functioning; although the sample was small, patients with severe deformity (ϩϩϩ or ϩϩϩϩ), short in height, juvenile onset, loss in pulmonary functioning or high intelligence were rated as more poorly adjusted parameters on all dimensions of the California Psychological Inventory following surgery. Conversely patients over 16 years of age scored outside the normal range on several subscales on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory before surgery, and scores became more pronounced following surgery.…”