Psychosocial development and corrective shoewear use in childhood.
To assess the short- and long-term psychosocial effects of wearing modified shoes during childhood, we compared measures of self-esteem and self-image of 46 adults who wore shoe modifications during childhood with 92 adult controls. The treated cases characterized their remembrance of the experience through a subjective report questionnaire. Those who wore shoe modifications during childhood showed lower self-esteem than controls (p < 0.05). In addition, the treated recalled a decrease in their self-image (41%), the experience as negative (57%), being teased about their footwear (47%), and having their activities limited (41%). These findings show that wearing shoe modifications during childhood, in addition to being ineffective and unnecessary as demonstrated in prior studies, is a negative experience in childhood and is associated with lower self-esteem in adult life. Such data suggest that children who wore modified footwear may fall into the spectrum of the vulnerable child syndrome.
Driano
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Department of Orthopedics, Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center, Seattle, Washington 98105-0371, USA.
Staheli
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Staheli
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LT
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001828:Body Image; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009989:Orthotic Devices / Q000009:adverse effects; D002666:Psychology, Child; D012649:Self Concept; D012775:Shoes / Q000009:adverse effects