Adaptive functioning in pediatric epilepsy: contributions of seizure-related variables and parental anxiety.

Young people with epilepsy are less likely to achieve the level of independence attained by their peers. We examined the seizure-related variables that placed a group of 97 pediatric patients with intractable seizures at risk for poor adaptive functioning. Analyses evaluated both the direct effects of the medical variables and indirect effects that were mediated through increased parental anxiety about their child's epilepsy.