Self-perceptions of romantic appeal in adolescents with a cleft lip and/or palate

Abstract

During adolescence, romantic relationships are a key developmental milestone. Coupled with the increasing salience of appearance and social acceptance, adolescents with an appearance-altering condition may feel particularly vulnerable when it comes to romantic relationships. This study aimed to explore the prevalence of romantic experiences among adolescents with a cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P), and to investigate how these experiences could be related to depressive symptoms and global self-worth. The study included 661 Norwegian adolescents with CL/P, who were compared to a large national sample. The prevalence of romantic relationships was lower among adolescents with CL/P compared to the reference group, although the overall impact on depressive symptoms and global self-worth appeared to be low. This study is one of few to explore the impact of a congenital visible condition on experiences of romantic relationships and provides preliminary insight into a significant, yet complex topic.

Appearance and Speech Satisfaction and Their Associations With Psychosocial Difficulties Among Young People With Cleft Lip and/or Palate

“…A single item was used to measure appearance satisfaction over the use of a mean score of several items. There is no consensus in the literature with regard to how best to use the CHASQ; some studies use a 4-item version (Feragen et al, 2016), some use a 12-item version (Feragen and Stock, 2016b), while some use single items (Berger and Dalton, 2011). Therefore, as this is the only item pertaining to satisfaction with overall facial appearance as opposed to more specific facial features, a single item was used rather a composite score.…”

Religiosidade, espiritualidade e autoestima em adolescentes com fissura de lábio e palato: estudo correlacional

“…Estar inserido em grupos sociais e possuir amigos reforça sentimentos de aceitação e interação social, além de minimizar sensações negativas e preocupações relacionadas à aparência física. Desse modo, o incentivo dessas práticas é recomendado como parte das intervenções terapêuticas (25) .…”

“…Ressalta-se, porém, que possuir altos níveis de autoestima não significa necessariamente que os adolescentes não enfrentarão outros problemas de ordem psicossocial. Nesse contexto, uma investigação que incluiu adolescentes noruegueses concluiu que, embora possuir fissura de lábio e/ou palato tivesse pouco impacto sobre os sintomas depressivos e de baixa autoestima, a prevalência de relacionamentos românticos foi significativamente menor entre os adolescentes com fissura de lábio e/ou palato em comparação àqueles sem a malformação (25) .…”

Psychosocial Adjustments Among Adolescents With Craniofacial Conditions and the Influence of Social Factors: A Multi-Informant Study

“…Similar results were found for patients with other CFAs, such as craniosynostosis (Maliepaard et al, 2014), Apert syndrome (Tovetjärn et al, 2012), and various CFAs other than orofacial clefts (Roberts & Mathias, 2012). However, these findings are inconsistent in the literature, as other investigators reported normal or higher levels of psychosocial adjustments among individuals with CL/P (Patel and Ross, 2003; Oosterkamp et al, 2007; Berger & Dalton, 2009; Feragen et al, 2010; Prescott et al, 2013; Feragen et al, 2016; Aravena et al, 2017), craniosynostoses (Knudsen et al, 2012; Cloonan et al, 2013), hemifacial microsomia (Dufton et al, 2011), Apert and Crouzon syndromes (Raposo-Amaral et al, 2012; Raposo-Amaral et al, 2014), and various CFAs (Eiserman, 2001; Geels et al, 2008).…”