Effects of Familial Relationships on School Adjustment of Adolescents and Young Adults with Congenital Heart Disease

Background As more than 85% of patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) have grown to adulthood through improvement in treatment and surgery, the difficulties they experience are expanding into areas related to daily life. Accordingly, adjustment to school in adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with CHD is of increasing interest and is influenced by familial factors. Objective This was a cross-sectional descriptive study to examine the effects of parental positive emotional expressiveness and sibling relationships on school adjustment of AYAs with CHD. Methods In this study, a self-reported questionnaire survey was used to collect the data. The participants were 104 AYAs with CHD aged 13 to 21 years who were attending school and had siblings. Results Maternal positive emotional expressiveness (r = 0.584, P <.01), paternal positive emotional expressiveness (r = 0.584, P <.01), and sibling warmth/closeness (r = 0.478, P <.01) were significantly correlated with school adjustment. However, the results of multiple regression analysis showed that only maternal positive emotional expressiveness (ß = 0.459, P <.05) and sibling warmth/closeness (ß = 0.236, P <.05) were significantly associated with school adjustment. Conclusions Adolescents and young adults with CHD who reported higher maternal positive emotional expressiveness and sibling warmth/closeness exhibited better school adjustment. Findings suggest that intervention programs to increase parental positive expressiveness and enhance warmth/closeness of sibling relationships may contribute to improving school adjustment.