Relations Between Tic Severity, Emotion Regulation, and Social Outcomes in Youth with Tourette Syndrome.

This study examined associations between tic severity, emotion regulation, social functioning, and social impairment in youth with Tourette Syndrome (TS). Emotion regulation was examined as a mediator between tic severity and social outcomes. Seventy-seven caregivers of youth with TS (M age = 13.1 years; SD = 2.29) were administered proxy-report measures of tic severity, emotion regulation, social functioning, and social impairment. Total and motor tic severity were negatively associated with emotion regulation and social functioning, and positively associated with social impairment (r's = 0.23 to 0.43). Vocal tic severity was not related to emotion regulation or social functioning, but was positively associated with social impairment (r = 0.36). Emotion regulation mediated the relations between total tic severity and both social outcomes, and motor tic severity and both social outcomes. Interventions that target emotion regulation would likely be a beneficial adjunctive therapy for youth with TS, and may result in improved social outcomes.

The Influence of Environmental Consequences and Internalizing Symptoms on Children's Tic Severity.

Although there is evidence that environmental consequences for displaying tics and internalizing symptoms are related to tic severity in children with TS, less is known about the inter-relationships of these variables or how these factors jointly contribute to tic severity. This study included 45 children with Tourette syndrome. Caregivers reported on children's environmental consequences for displaying tics, internalizing symptoms, and tic severity. Results indicated that children with higher levels of internalizing symptoms experienced significantly more environmental consequences for displaying tics. Children with higher levels of separation anxiety symptoms demonstrated significantly greater tic severity. Environmental consequences for displaying tics accounted for significantly more variance in predicting tic severity than anxiety symptoms. This preliminary evidence suggests that environmental consequences for displaying tics, such as receiving accommodations or attention from others, have a greater influence on children's tic severity than emotional factors.

Changes in Socio-Emotional and Behavioral Functioning After Attending a Camp for Children with Tourette Syndrome: A Preliminary Investigation.

Children and adolescents with Tourette syndrome are at risk for social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties that may negatively influence feelings of self-competence and attitudes toward having this diagnosis. Attending a camp for children with Tourette syndrome may facilitate improvements in overall socio-emotional and behavioral functioning and self-perception. The current study obtained data from 37 campers (76 % male, 24 % female) and 47 caregivers of campers to investigate changes in children's emotional and behavioral functioning, self-perception (i.e., social and general), attitudes towards having Tourette syndrome, and how different they felt from peers after attending a 1-week summer camp for youth with Tourette syndrome using a pre-post design. Results indicated that campers endorsed a significantly improved sense of social self-competence and more favorable attitudes toward having Tourette syndrome post-camp. Campers also tended to endorse feeling less different than peers at camp versus peers in general. Caregivers endorsed significantly less severe symptoms associated with Tourette syndrome for campers after attending camp. No pre-to-post-camp changes were observed for campers' levels of anxiety or obsessive-compulsive symptoms. These preliminary findings suggest that attending camp or having other opportunities to interact with similar peers may promote better perceptions of social self-competence, more favorable attitudes toward having Tourette syndrome, and a stronger sense of affiliation with peers for children with Tourette syndrome.

The Role of Self-Competence in Health-Related Quality of Life and Behavioral Functioning of Children with Tourette Syndrome.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate self-competence, health-related quality of life (HRQOL), and emotional/behavioral functioning in children with Tourette syndrome (TS) compared to normative data and to examine self-competence as a potential protective factor against poorer HRQOL and emotional/behavioral outcomes in this population. METHOD: Thirty-nine children between the ages of 8 and 17 years and 72 caregivers participated in this study. Participants completed measures of children's HRQOL, emotional/behavioral functioning, and self-competence. RESULTS: Participants reported significantly lower levels of emotional/behavioral functioning and HRQOL compared with norms of healthy children. No significant differences were found in domains of perceived self-competence. Social and general self-competence domains were significantly and positively correlated with most emotional and behavioral outcomes examined. Only social self-competence was significantly correlated with domains of HRQOL. CONCLUSION: Self-competence, particularly in the social realm, may play a protective role against lower HRQOL and worse emotional and behavioral outcomes in children with TS. Children with this condition may benefit from self-competence-promoting interventions targeting children's perceptions of their own abilities.