Die intrapsigiese funksionering van die kind met asma in die middelkinderjare

English: The primary aim of this study was to establish whether the intrapsychic functioning of the child with asthma in late middle childhood significantly differs from that of the child without asthma. The physiological aspects of asthma were briefly discussed with specific reference to its definition, incidence, diagnoses, aetiology and treatment. An explanation was given of relevant developmental aspects during middle childhood, which could possibly be influenced by chronic diseases, in order to establish a framework against which the intrapsychic aspects of children with asthma could be further investigated. An effort was made to clarify the term intrapsychic from the available literature with specific reference to children with asthma. In the empirical research a non-recurrent cross-sectional design was used. The research group consisted of learners in their late middle childhood, representative of all population, language and socio-economic groups from schools in the North West Province, Free State, Gauteng and Mpumalanga. From an availability sample of 1067 learners two further groups were identified, namely those with asthma and a random sample of relatively healthy children proportionally representative of the background variables (gender, language and age). Apart from a general health questionnaire and biographical questionnaire, the test battery consisted out of subscales from the following measuring instruments: the Piers-Harris Children’s Self-Concept Scale, Locus-of-Control Scale for Children, Social Support Appraisal Scale, Child Symptom Inventory, Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale and Stress Response Scale. Acceptable reliability and validity indices for all the measurements were obtained. The data obtained from these scales was used to evaluate the intrapsychic functioning of the study sample regarding self-concept, handling of stress, locus of control, perception of social support, emotional functioning and psychiatric symptoms. The statistical significance of differences in functioning was established by means of Hotelling’s T² tests, followed up with post hoc t-tests and calculated for effect sizes. Finally a discriminant analyses was performed in order to validate the results of the study. Statistically meaningful differences between children with asthma and relative healthy children in the late middle childhood years were found for five of the 20 dependant variables. Children with asthma during the middle childhood years showed a significantly higher perception of support from three social structures (viz. peer group, family and teachers), a stronger acknowledgement of behaviour problems and a higher incidence of generalized anxiety disorder. Contradictions in the literature were found regarding the other dependant variables and more research is deemed necessary. It appears from the empirical results that the majority of children with asthma still portray healthy psychological functioning, in spite of a possible higher risk for comorbid psychosocial problems. Finally recommendations were made for future research.