Family factors and psychopathology in children with epilepsy: a literature review

PURPOSE: From a social interactional and ecological framework, studies were reviewed that (1) compared family factors in children with epilepsy with those in children from normative groups, healthy children, children with a chronic illness, or siblings; and (2) examined the relationship between distinct family factors and child psychopathology. RESULTS: Compared with control groups, families with a child with epilepsy generally fare worse on the whole range of family factors, indicating lower parent-child relationship quality, more depression in mothers, and problems with family functioning. Significant associations were apparent between distinct family factors, especially parental psychological control, parental attributions about epilepsy, and family members' satisfaction with family relationships, and psychopathology in children with epilepsy. CONCLUSION: Future childhood epilepsy research might benefit from the examination of the simultaneous contribution of distinct family factors to child psychopathology, within a broad multifactorial framework that also includes neurological and medication factors.