Psychosocial integration of adolescents and young adults with thalassemia major

The aim of this study was to explore the effect of thalassemia major on the psychosocial adjustment of adolescents and young adults. Design: unmarried adolescent and young adult patients were asked to fill in an ad hoc questionnaire; a semistructured interview exploring marriage and family Life was done with married patients. Sample: group A: 90 unmarried patients, 50% females and 50% males, aged 14-22 years. The control group was formed by 100 matched subjects; group B: 19 thalassemic married subjects, 6 males and 13 females, aged 28-45 years, 7 patients had children and 12 did not. Results: group A: subjects with thalassemia had normal psychological and social development and scored better than their normal peers in tests investigating social adjustment, self-esteem and self-description. Moreover the family relationships of adolescents with thalassemia appeared to be stronger than those reported by normal controls; group B: the behavior of thalassemic couples did not differ from the one observed in non-thalassemic couples in the course of previous investigations. Conclusions: Our data shows that neither thalassemic adolescents nor thalassemic married, well-treated, young adults differ significantly from the healthy young people in their ability to cope with life's difficulties both in adolescence and marital life.