Psychological Functioning and Parent–Child Mental Health Interrelations in Pediatric Gastrointestinal Autoimmune Disorders

PurposeTo examine psychological functioning and parent-child mental health in pediatric gastrointestinal autoimmune disorders. Child anxiety, depression, alexithymia, negative automatic thoughts and health-related quality of life were compared across inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), celiac disease and hepatopathy. Parental psychological functioning and parent-child associations were also assessed.MethodsThis cross-sectional study included 59 children aged 8-17 years with confirmed IBD, celiac disease or hepatopathy and one parent per child, recruited from a university pediatric gastroenterology department in Greece during 2024. Participants completed validated psychological questionnaires. Associations, paired parent-child comparisons and diagnostic-group differences were examined.ResultsGreater child alexithymia and more frequent negative automatic thoughts were associated with higher symptoms across all RCADS outcomes, whereas health-related quality of life was inversely associated with all outcomes. Parental alexithymia was associated with child-reported obsessive-compulsive symptoms, while six associations of parental depression, anxiety and alexithymia with parent-rated child outcomes remained significant. Parents rated child symptoms higher than children in all paired RCADS comparisons. Diagnostic comparisons suggested the greatest psychological burden and lowest health-related quality of life among children with Crohn's disease.ConclusionsAlexithymia and parent-child mental health emerged as important dimensions of psychological functioning in pediatric gastrointestinal and hepatological autoimmune disorders. Findings support multi-informant, family-centered psychological assessment within pediatric gastroenterology, while acknowledging shared-informant variance and the cross-sectional design.