Abstracts

RATIONALE: Children with both chronic epilepsy and low IQ are at increased risk for behavioral and mental health problems. It is not known if gender has an effect on these outcomes. The purpose of this study was to describe the gender-by-IQ interaction in children with low IQ and epilepsy in the areas of behavior and self-concept. At the end of this presentation, participants will be able to discuss gender by IQ interactions in this population.
METHODS: The sample of 164 children were diagnosed with epilepsy for at least 6 months. They were placed into 1 of 3 IQ groups; (1) IQ between 56-84 (n = 48), (2) IQ between 85 - 100 (n = 58), and (3) IQ between 101-130 (n = 58). Parents completed telephone interviews to measure behavior problems using the Child Behavior Check List (CBCL). Children completed the Piers Harris Self-Concept Scale via telephone to measure 7 domains of self-concept: Total Self-Concept, Anxiety, Behavior, Happiness, Physical Appearance, Popularity, and School. Individual neuropsychological evaluations provided assessment of IQ. Gender interactions with IQ group were analyzed by fitting two-way ANOVA models with main effects for IQ group and gender and an IQ group-by-gender interaction for continuous outcomes. Logistic regression was used for the binary outcomes (at-risk - yes or no) with main effects for IQ group and gender and an IQ group-by-gender interaction. If the interaction was significant in the ANOVA models, we used the Tukey-Kramer method to test for pair-wise differences across the six gender and IQ groups.
RESULTS: On the CBCL, there was one significant interaction. The percent at risk for Attention problem in males showed little variability across the three IQ groups. In contrast, for females 82% in the Low IQ group were at risk compared to 65% in the Middle IQ group and only 17% in the High IQ group. Females in the low IQ group had a signficantly poorer mean score for Total Self-concept and Anxiety Self-concept than the other five groups. For Happiness Self-concept, females in the Low IQ group had significantly poorer mean scores than all other groups except males in the Low IQ group. Physical Appearance Self-concept scores for females in the Low IQ group were significantly poorer than for females in the High IQ group and males in the Low IQ group. Finally, for School Self-concept, scores for the females in the Low IQ group were significantly poorer than for females or males in the High IQ group.
CONCLUSIONS: The findings from this study indicate a significant interaction between gender and IQ. In general, girls with low IQ were at greater risk for both self-concept and attention problems. Findings from this study suggest girls with low IQ and epilepsy are at heightened risk for problems and should be assessed for behavior and mental health problems in the clinical setting.
[Supported by: This research was supported by grant PHS RO2 NR04536 from the National Institute of Nursing Research to Joan K Austin.]; (Disclosure: Honoraria - The presenting author has presented for Elan pharmaceuticals and Abbot Pharmaceuticals within the last five years. The amount has never exceded $5000.00. Last year, earnings from Elan were $1500.00 and from Abbot, $500.00.)