Brief report: illness uncertainty and dispositional self-focus in adolescents and young adults with childhood-onset asthma

OBJECTIVE: To investigate differences in self-focused attention between college students with childhood-onset asthma and a group of healthy controls and to determine whether self-focused attention mediates the relationship between illness uncertainty and psychological distress among individuals with asthma. METHODS: Forty-two adolescent and young adult participants with childhood-onset asthma and 40 age- and gender-matched healthy participants completed measures of self-focused attention, perceived illness uncertainty, psychological distress, and health status. RESULTS: Adolescents and young adults with childhood-onset asthma evidenced an increased tendency to engage in private self-focus compared to age- and gender-matched peers without a chronic illness history. Self-focused attention also mediated the relationship between perceived illness uncertainty and psychological distress among those with asthma. CONCLUSIONS: The need for self-monitoring in asthma management may result in an increased propensity to self-focus, which may result in heightened levels of psychological distress.