Social competence of children and adolescents with epilepsy

BACKGROUND This study compared children and adolescents with epilepsy with their healthy peers on measures of social competence. METHODS Children and adolescents with epilepsy (70 subjects aged 11-18 years; 47.1% girls) and their healthy peers in control group (95 subjects aged 11-18 years; 50.9% girls) were compared on measures of social competence from the Child Competence Checklist (part of Child Behavior Check List). The questionnaires were completed by the parents. All participants were of normal intelligence. RESULTS The difference of means of total T scores for subscales of sociabilitiy and activities in the epilepsy group and in the control group were statistically significant (p<0.05). The results showed that 5.7% of children and adolescents with epilepsy were in the clinical range compared to 2.1% of subjects in control group. The girls with epilepsy demonstrated greater problems with social competence (45.8+/-8.27) than boys with epilepsy (48.1+/-8.27) and this difference was statistically significant (p<0.05). Multiple analysis of variance of T scores for social competence subscales related to neurobiological variables in the group of participants with epilepsy demonstrated a statistically significant association of reduced sociability with multiple generalized seizure types (F=4,405; d.f.=2; p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS The study clearly shows that epilepsy is a limiting factor for social competence of children and adolescents.