Abstracts

Rationale: Children with epilepsy may experience greater social isolation and have more difficulties with peers compared to healthy controls and to children with non-neurologic disease. In a recent study we found that children with established epilepsy are less well liked and are less likely to be identified as a friend by classmates than children without epilepsy. The aim of the current study is to assess the peer relationships of children with newly diagnosed epilepsy, as reported by classmates who are involved in social interactions with them on a daily basis.Methods: Sixteen of 18 children, ages 8-12 years, with new onset epilepsy agreed to participate in the study. Fifteen schools have agreed to participate. Preliminary analyses have been completed for 9 of 25 children who will complete the study by the end of 2011. With permission by parents and school administrators, friendship nominations (names of 3 best friends in that class) and peer acceptance ratings (1 = do not like to 5 = like a lot) were obtained from classmates in the primary elementary school classroom (grade 3-6) of each child with epilepsy. Children with epilepsy spent at least 50% of their time within this mainstream classroom. Children receive Total Friendship scores based on the number of times they are chosen as a friend by classmates. Reciprocated Friendship scores reflect the number of times each child received friendship nominations from classmates they also picked as friends. Mean Acceptance score is computed for each child based on the ratings they received from all classmates. One classmate control was selected in each class by identifying a participating classmate matched for gender, race and age. Effect size estimates for differences between the epilepsy and control groups have been computed as Cohen s d and preliminary significance tests completed using the Mann-Whitney U test. Results: Children with newly diagnosed epilepsy appear to be identified as a best friend by classmates less often than controls (MEpilepsy = 1.44, MControl = 2.56, d = -0.75, p=0.13. Deficits in reciprocated friendships have not been identified in this preliminary sample (MEpilepsy = 1.33, MControl = 1.11, d = 0.19, (p=0.71). A small difference in Mean Acceptance Scores (MEpilepsy = 3.03, MControl = 3.27, d = -0.29, p = 0.25 will also be reported for the full sample.Conclusions: This study, based on friendship nominations and peer acceptance ratings provided by the classmates, suggests that children with newly diagnosed epilepsy are less likely to be identified as a friend by their classmates, but they may be able to establish reciprocated friendships as well as their peers and they may equally well liked by the peer group at large. This is in contrast to our findings in children with established epilepsy, who have fewer chosen and reciprocated friends. Our results set the groundwork for future studies that focus on better understanding the trajectory and possible mechanisms that may change these relationships over time.