Social support and life adjustment for teenagers with cleft lip and palate in Taiwan.
BACKGROUND
The teenage years (13-19 years) are a critical period for psychosocial development. Therefore, social support and life adjustment for teenagers with cleft lip/palate were chosen for investigation.


METHODS
The sample survey included 101 cleft patients randomly selected from the Chang Gung Craniofacial Center, and 101 non-cleft controls selected from local middle and high schools for comparison. Questionnaires were used to evaluate the social support and life adjustment scales. Items of social support were subdivided into social activities, social service, and psychological support. Items of life adjustment were subdivided into social, psychological, and physical adjustments.


RESULTS
The coefficients of alpha reliability were high at 0.9294 for social support, and 0.9389 for life adjustment. The results show that personal factors, family factors, and treatment status do not influence social support or life adjustment in either group; however, gender does. In the control group, non-cleft males had better social support and life adjustment than did females. Such a difference was not observed in the cleft group. Both groups received the same social support. The cleft teenagers have a significantly lower level of life adjustment. The association between the social support and life adjustment is high in both groups.


CONCLUSIONS
The cleft group has a lower level of life adjustment. There is a positive relationship between social support and life adjustment. More social support is required for the cleft group in order to improve their level of life adjustment.
Wu
Y F
YF
Department of Social Services, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taipei.
Chao
P H
PH
Lo
L J
LJ
Chen
Y R
YR
Noordhoff
M S
MS
D000293:Adolescent; D002971:Cleft Lip / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D002972:Cleft Palate / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012917:Social Adjustment; D012944:Social Support