• Korean Journal of Health Psychology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.169-187
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• 2011

The present study explored psychosocial characteristics of infants with genital anomalies (GA) and their caregivers against normal controls. Participants were female caregivers and infants between the ages of 6to38months diagnosed with hypospadias(HS;n=103) or cryptorchidism (CR;n=49). Normalcontrols(n=131) were recruited and selected via Internet. Caregivers completed measures on parenting stress, coping style, social support, and infant temperament. Within the GAgroups, HScaregivers reported their greatest parental concerns as infant urination/bodily functioning difficulties whereas CRcaregivers reported worries related to surgical anesthesia issues. Both groups reported concern about their children's potential reproductive problems. Per caregiver report, infants with GA had lower ability to self-soothe. HS infants in particular were perceived as exhibiting greater negative emotion. Compared with controls, HS and CRcaregivers overall employed coping strategies more frequently and had lower interpersonal sensitivity and parental distress. However, HScaregivers emerged as experiencing higher stress when compared to the CRgroup. There were no differences in to tal parenting stress and social support scores between groups. Further, CRcaregivers reported lower levels of family discord than controls. Despite temperament-related differences between infants with GA and normal controls, HS and CRcaregivers reported lower parental distress and greater use of coping skills as compared to controls. Clinical implications are discussed.