Lack of cooperation in pediatric dentistry--the role of child personality characteristics.
OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to investigate fear, temperament, behavioral symptoms and verbal intelligence in a study group of uncooperative child dental patients, partly in comparison with a reference group of ordinary child dental patients. A second aim was to explore a hypothesis of heterogeneity by searching for subgroups within the study group.


METHODS
Parents of 86 study group children (36 aged 4-to 7- years and 50 aged 8- to 12-years) and 117 reference group children (8- to 12-years) answered a questionnaire concerning dental and general fear, temperament and general behavior. Study group children performed a vocabulary test to measure verbal intelligence. Data were analyzed with a variable-based and a person-based approach.


RESULTS
In addition to dental fear, a higher level of impulsivity most clearly discriminated study group from reference group children. Cluster analyses revealed four different fear and personality subgroups within the study group.


CONCLUSIONS
Uncooperative child dental patients constitute a heterogeneous group. Subgroups with different fear, temperament and behavior problem profiles can be identified. These subgroups could be presumed to benefit from different treatment regimens, which should be further investigated.
Arnrup
Kristina
K
Department of Pedodontics, Postgraduate Dental Education Center, Orebro, Sweden.
Broberg
Anders G
AG
Berggren
Ulf
U
Bodin
Lennart
L
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D016854:Dental Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D005195:Family Relations; D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007175:Impulsive Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D007360:Intelligence; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010551:Personality; D012923:Social Class; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013694:Temperament; D014705:Verbal Behavior