Todd C. Edwards, Ph.D.
Tari D. Topolski, Ph.D.
K. Kiomi Mount, M.S.W.
Youth Quality of Life
Research Group
Department of Health Services
University of Washington,
Seattle, WA
The face is
critical and unique in human evolution, development, and social interactions. Long before spoken language, face
communicates emotional and social messages of importance. Because of its centrality in human
interactions and development, facial deformity may be particularly
stigmatizing. Stigmatizing social
responses to speech impairment or facial disfigurement may lead to negative
self-perceptions of competence and physical attractiveness. Psychosocial ramifications of stigmatization
can include devaluing, discrimination, and status loss. Facial prejudice can manifest in the form of
public scrutiny, the discrediting of one’s intellectual abilities, or
suspiciousness. Data will be drawn on
in the presentation from a Phase I instrument development study funded by the
National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR). In this study, 33 adolescents with a range of
congenital and acquired facial differences were interviewed regarding how their
facial difference affects their lives.
It was found that the experience of stigma and adjustment to it figured
prominently in these adolescents’ lives.
Coping mechanisms they employed, and the negative and positive
consequences of stigma will be discussed.
Quality of life data collected in this study with the Youth Quality of
Life Instrument will also be reported, which indicate that these adolescents
score more similarly to adolescents with other chronic conditions and
disabilities, than they do to adolescents without these conditions. Potential cross-cultural differences
regarding beliefs held about the causes of facial differences and how these
beliefs affect others’ and self responses to facial differences will be
discussed. Finally, areas of needed
research will be identified.