Affiliations: Woman and Child Health Department, University of Padua, Padua, Italy | General Psychology Department, University of Padua, Padua, Italy | Neuropsychiatric Unit for Children and Adolescents, Padua, Italy | Child Health Department, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
Note: [] Corresponding author: Dr. Michela Gatta, Woman and Child Health Department, University of Padua, via Giustiniani 3, 35100 Padua, Italy. Tel.: +39 335 594 1868; Fax: +39 049 821 7708; E-mail: michela.gatta@unipd.it.
Abstract: This study investigates the relationship between temperament and psychopathology in children with idiopathic epilepsy (CWIE). The parents of 42 children between 4 and 12 yr of age with idiopathic epilepsy were administered the Child Behavior Checklist to assess their children’s behavior and the Italian Questionnaires about temperament to assess their temperament. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to compare the results with those of two control groups, one consisting of 62 children (aged 5–12 yr) with primary migraine (CWPM), the other of 74 children (aged 3–11 yr) who underwent neuropsychiatric assessment for emotional distress. The temperamental dimension of inhibition to novelty was found significant in predicting problems of internalizing behavior in both CWIE and CWPM, while externalizing behavior issues were predicted by the negative emotionality dimension in CWIE and by the inhibition to novelty and motor activity dimensions in CWPM. The results of this study suggest that temperament is one of the predictors of the onset of psycho-behavioral disorders in CWIE.
