In this study, the psychiatric, psychological nad medical features of 60 asthmatic children and adolescents were investigated. The mothers were assessed with a semi - structured psychiatric interview; they were compared with the controls using the Achenbach Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL), and the patients were physically investigated. The medical examination confirmed the diagnosis of bronchial asthma; semi-structured interviews showed that although none of the children had any kind of psychiatric disturbance, high levels of behavioral problems such as clinging to adults, manipulative use of illness, sibling, peer and school problems were mainly due to the parental attitutes such as overprotection, overinvolvement, reinforcing dependency and encouraging sick role. In CBCL, aggression, somatic complaints, internalising, externalising and total problem scores were significantly higher in the asthmatic group than the control sample; the problem scores were significantly correlated with parental friction at home, unsatisfactory relationship with siblings, other physical problems in these children and stressful events at home.
