Abstract
Youth with asthma have increasingly been the subjects of studies examining the effects of their chronic illness. The results of these studies have been mixed. A possible explanation for these inconsistent findings is that there are additional factors influencing these youth such as poverty and disease severity, and previous studies have not accounted for these differences. The current study was designed to help determine if there was a possible confounding variable (i.e., poverty) which strongly predicts depressive symptoms, and if asthma severity and exposure to violence moderate this relationship. Additionally, the current study looked for main effects between poverty, depressive symptoms, and asthma severity. Youth from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health who indicated having asthma (n = 665) were used in the current study. Multiple regressions were used to run all analyses, and some were hierarchical. Poverty was found to predict depressive symptoms, and asthma severity showed a non-significant trend for moderating this relationship. Exposure to violence was a non-significant moderator. Depressive symptoms were also found to predict asthma severity and asthma severity predicted depressive symptoms. Poverty and asthma severity were not found to predict one another.
Recommended Citation
DeCator, Draycen D.
(2012)
"Depression in Youth with Asthma: Asthma Severity, Exposure to Violence and Poverty,"
DePaul Discoveries: Volume 1, Article 2.
Available at:
https://via.library.depaul.edu/depaul-disc/vol1/iss1/2