Gender Differences in Psychopathology with Epileptic Adolescents

Psychopathologyis very common in people suffering with epilepsy (PWE), but possible gender differences are often neglected. Therefore, the present study was conducted to examine whether girls and boys with epilepsy differ with regard to anxiety and depressive symptoms. A total of 140 adolescent epileptic patients (males=70, females=70) completed self-report measures, i.e., The Symptoms Checklist 90-R (Derogatis, Yevzeroff, & Wittelsberger, 1975). Results showed that there are gender differences in three comorbidities. It was found that female patients have scored significantly higher on three subscales of Symptoms Checklist, viz., Somatisation (FG Mean=14.173, SD=7.265, MG Mean=10.560, SD=7.289, t=3.040, p<.003), Depression (FG Mean=14.93, SD=9.084, MG Mean=11.39, SD=8.391, t=2.284, p<.01), Anxiety (FG Mean=11.03, SD=7.423, MG Mean=8.41, SD=6.633, t=2.273 p <.02). It depicts that there were gender differences in somatisation, depression, anxiety; females had higher scores than males. Future intervention studies may show whether providing more information about the illness and treatment reduces the level of anxiety and depression. Our results suggest that such interventions should be tailored to the different needs of girls and boys.