Depression and anxiety levels and self-concept characteristics of adolescents with congenital complete visual impairment

Abstract

Objective: Previous studies have reported that visual impairment can affect the mental health of children and adolescents. The aim of this study is to investigate the depression and anxiety levels and the self-concept characteristics of adolescents with congenital complete visual impairment.

Method: This is a cross-sectional study. 40 adolescents with congenital complete visual impairment studying in a specialized primary school for visual impairment, and 40 sighted adolescents were included in the study. Both groups were matched in terms of age, gender and socio-economic status. The mean age of the adolescents in both groups was 12.82±1.17. The Children's Depression Inventory, Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale, Spielberger Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children and sociodemographic form were used in the study. The mean scores of the scales obtained from both groups were compared using the Mann-Whitney U test.

Results: The difference between the two groups was not statistically significant either in terms of depression scores or in terms of total scores; the happiness, physical appearance, popularity, behavior and adjustment subscales scores of the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale. The intellectual and school-status subscale scores of the adolescents with visual impairment were significantly higher than those of the controls. Anxiety levels of the adolescents with visual impairment were significantly higher when compared with sighted adolescents.

Conclusion: These results indicate that the depression levels and self-concept characteristics of adolescents with visual impairment are similar to those of sighted adolescents, whereas the anxiety levels of the adolescents with visual impairment are significantly higher than those of the sighted ones.