Young adults with childhood-onset asthma: The spotlight effect, psychological adjustment, fear of negative evaluation, and self focused attention

Abstract

The current study investigated the spotlight effect, self-focused attention, fear of negative evaluation and psychological distress among college students with and without a childhood diagnosis of asthma. It included an additional examination of the impact of disclosing one's health status on the variables of interest.

Participants. The first wave of participants included healthy (N = 530) and childhood-onset asthma (N = 148) young adults who completed measures from January to March of 2013. Participants with asthma were either told to not disclose (N = 93) or were forced to disclose (N = 55) their chronic illness. The second wave of participants included healthy (N = 209) young adults who completed measures from August to December of 2013. Methods. Measures of self-focused attention (Self-Consciousness Scale, SCS; Fenigstein et al., 1975), fear of negative evaluation (Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation, BFNES; Leary, 1983), and psychological distress (Brief Symptoms Inventory, BSI; Derogatis, 1983) were completed. First wave participants wrote paragraphs and answered questions about inclusion in a social activity. Second wave participants completed measures and assessed first wave paragraphs.

Results. Health status did not impact spotlight effect, self-focused attention, or fear of negative evaluation. Young adults with asthma reported greater Somatization concerns and no other significant differences in psychological distress. Young adults who disclosed their asthma endorsed greater fear of negative evaluation and self-focused attention.

Conclusions. College students with and without a history of childhood-onset asthma did not differ in the majority of psychological adjustment variables in the present study. Interestingly, disclosure of an individual's chronic illness did result in significantly greater fear of negative evaluation and increased self-focused attention. While previous studies have included disclosure of illness, this is the first study to examine forced disclosure and thus added a new dimension to chronic illness models.