Dissertations and Theses @ UNI
Availability
Open Access Thesis
Keywords
Attribution (Social psychology); Chronic pain--Psychological aspects; Depression, Mental;
Abstract
This study examined the relationship between psychosocial factors and symptoms of fibromyalgia, migraine headache, and chronic fatigue syndrome and the degree of impairment observed in each. The relationship of impairment to attributional style was also investigated. A symptom checklist measured symptom frequency and severity of each condition for 120 female college undergraduates. Subjects were placed in one of five groups including: subjects reporting symptoms of fibromyalgia, migraine headache, chronic fatigue syndrome, a mixed group displaying symptoms of more than one illness, and an asymptomatic group displaying minimal symptoms of any illness. Subjects were administered the SCL-90-R to determine psychological distress, the Sickness Impact Profile to determine impairment, and the Attributional Style Questionnaire, which measures pessimistic attributional style. It was proposed that the mixed group would display the greatest psychological distress, the greatest impairment and the highest degree of pessimism. Analysis of variance results revealed a significant relationship between high scores on all three questionnaires and the mixed group. Reporting symptoms of more than one illness group resulted in a greater degree of impairment across physical and psychosocial dimensions, and a higher degree of pessimism. It was also proposed that subjects in the fibromyalgia and CFS groups would display more impairment and greater pessimism than the migraine headache group. Multiple Analysis of Variance results were only significant for the SCL-90-R. It was proposed that all illness groups would display more distress, functional impairment, and greater pessimism than asymptomatic subjects. MANOVA results were significant only for the SCL-90-R. Findings suggest that symptoms of chronic disorders, such as fibromyalgia and CFS, are associated with greater psychological impairment than those of intermittent illnesses, such as migraine, as measured by the SCL-90-R . Results did not support the hypothesis that chronic illnesses are associated with more pessimism.
Year of Submission
1997
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Department of Psychology
First Advisor
Frank Barrios
Second Advisor
Augustine Osman
Third Advisor
Beverly Kopper
Date Original
1997
Object Description
1 PDF file (131 leaves)
Copyright
©1997 Melissa L. Kehart
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Kehart, Melissa L., "The Effects of Physical Symptoms and Their Relationship to Functional Impairment and Attributional Style" (1997). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 3136.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/3136
Comments
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