On behalf of the i-DETACH investigatorsCorresponding
AbstractPurpose. This study aimed (1) to identify different personality types in adolescents with congenital heart disease (CHD); and (2) to relate these personality types to psychosocial functioning and several domains of perceived health, both concurrently and prospectively.Hence, this study aimed to expand previous research by adopting a person-centered approach to personality through focusing on personality types rather than singular traits.Methods. Adolescents with CHD were selected from the database of pediatric and congenital cardiology of the University Hospitals Leuven. A total of 366 adolescents (15-20 years old) with CHD participated at Time 1. These adolescents completed questionnaires on the Big Five personality traits, depressive symptoms, loneliness, and generic and disease-specific domains of health. Nine months later, 313 patients again completed questionnaires.Results. Cluster analysis at Time 1 revealed three personality types: Resilients (37%), Undercontrollers (34%), and Overcontrollers (29%), closely resembling typologies obtained in previous community samples. Resilients, Under-and Overcontrollers did not differ in terms of disease complexity, but differed on depressive symptoms, loneliness, and generic and disease-specific domains of perceived health at both time-points. Overall, Resilients showed the most favorable outcomes and Overcontrollers the poorest, with Undercontrollers scoring in-between.Conclusions. Personality assessment can help clinicians in identifying adolescents at risk for physical and psychosocial difficulties later in time. In this study, both Over-and Undercontrollers were identified as high risk groups. Our findings show that both personality traits and types should be taken into account to obtain a detailed view on the associations between personality and health.Heart defects, congenital; Personality types; Big Five; Cluster analysis; Adolescence; Chronic disease.
4Recent advances in pediatric medicine have led to a dramatic decrease in the mortality rate of many once fatal chronic diseases [1]. It is estimated that more than 90% of children born with a chronic disease now survive to the age of 20 [2]. The emergence of this population poses many new challenges to health care. Although major differences exist in how youngsters cope with their disease, a recent meta-analysis has shown that adolescents with a chronic disease report more depressive symptoms as compared to their healthy peers [3]. In addition, research has shown that young adults with a chronic disease have worse educational and vocational outcomes as compared to their peers [2]. In the present study, we focus on adolescents with congenital heart disease (CHD), being the most common birth defect (9:1000 births) and comprising a wide spectrum of simple, moderate, and complex structural heart lesions [4]. Adolescents with CHD are at increased risk for developing medical complications later in life, such as arrhythmias, pulmonary hypertension, or heart...