A biopsychosocial approach to asthma in adolescents encountering child protective services.

Objective: To further test the validity of the Biobehavioral Family Model (BBFM), a biopsychosocial approach to explaining the effects of family processes on illness, by testing the model with adolescents with asthma involved in child protective services (CPS), a sample for whom the model's constructs are highly relevant.

Methods: Data are from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, CPS sample (n = 5,501). Adolescents with asthma (n = 101, ages 11-15 years) self-reported their negative family emotional climate (NFEC; caregiver psychological aggression and caregiver relationship quality), caregiver-adolescent relational security, and depressive symptoms. Caregivers rated adolescent health quality. Models were tested using path analyses and bootstrapping.

Results: Path analyses and bootstrapping results demonstrate support for the BBFM in explaining health quality for this sample.

Conclusions: Applying the BBFM to families involved with CPS demonstrates pathways by which family processes affect health quality of adolescents with asthma, underscoring the need for biopsychosocial assessments and services.