Contact Lenses Improve the Self Image of Children
Three-year study of children ages 8-11 years shows contact lens wearers feel better about their Physical Appearance, Athletic Competence, and Social Acceptance
COLLEYVILLE, TX – March 6, 2009 – Contact lenses provide value-added benefits
to children beyond simply correcting their nearsightedness --
significantly improving how they feel about their physical
appearance, acceptance among friends, and ability to play sports.
Data from a three-year multi-site study assessing the effects of
glasses and contact lenses on the self-perception of nearsighted
children ages eight to 11 years, further reveals that for children
who initially dislike wearing glasses, contact lenses also make them
more confident about their academic performance.
“Many
studies have examined the effect of spectacle wear on
self-perception and the perception of others, but the majority of
this research has been conducted on adults,” explains Jeffrey J.
Walline, O.D, Ph.D., Ohio State University College of Optometry and
leader of the Adolescent and Child Health Initiative to Encourage
Vision Empowerment (ACHIEVE) Study, the largest randomized trial of
its kind. “Research shows spectacles to be associated with poorer
self-perception in adults if they were first worn during childhood.
The ACHIEVE Study was designed to determine whether children who
were dissatisfied with spectacle wear would benefit more from
contact lenses than children who did not mind wearing glasses.”
Findings appear in the March issue of Optometry & Vision
Science, the peer-reviewed journal of the American Academy of
Optometry.
A total of 484 eight-to-11-year-old nearsighted
children participated in the randomized, single-masked trial
conducted from September 2003 to October 2007 at five clinical
centers in the United States. Children were randomly assigned to
wear spectacles (n=237) or contact lenses (n=247) for three years.
Children randomly assigned to wear contact lenses were provided the
option of daily disposable or 2-week disposable lenses, and they
chose daily disposable contact lenses 93.3% of the time.
Researchers measured outcomes using the Self-Perception Profile for
Children scale, a measurement tool employed in numerous studies in
the development psychology and social development literature. The
scale consists of five domain-specific sub-scales (Scholastic
Competence, Social Acceptance, Athletic Competence, Physical
Appearance, Behavioral Conduct) and one global measure of
self-worth.
Change in Global Self-Worth was statistically
significant over three years for both treatment groups, but the
change was not significantly different between contact lens wearers
and spectacle wearers.
“Global self-worth is a
multi-dimensional assessment of one’s value to society and it is
difficult to change with a treatment that is not directly attempting
to alter global self-perception, such as contact lenses,” explains
study co-author Mitchell J. Prinstein, Ph.D., Professor and Director
of Clinical Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
However, while contact lenses do not affect global self-worth,
they do affect children’s self-perceptions in several other areas,
with Physical Appearance, Athletic Competence, and Social Acceptance
scores all significantly greater for contact lens wearers than
spectacle wearers at the end of the study. Scholastic Competence was
also higher for contact lens wearers, but only for those who were
not satisfied with spectacle wear initially.
Physical Appearance – The change in the Physical
Appearance scale score was significantly greater for contact lens
wearers than for spectacle wearers, regardless of whether or not
participants initially liked to wear spectacles. “Published studies
have shown glasses to be associated with negative attributes in
areas of self-perception and attractiveness, so it was not
surprising that children’s physical appearance self-perception
benefits from contact lens wear,” says Dr. Prinstein. In a recent
study of 8 to 12 year old children and 13 to 17 year old teens,
improved appearance was reported by both age groups as one of the
largest benefits of contact lens wear.
Athletic
Competence - Averaged over three years, contact lenses
improved children’s perceptions of their athletic competence.
“These findings are consistent with the growing body of research in
this area demonstrating that contact lenses significantly improve
how children feel about participating in activities such as sports,”
notes Dr. Walline. “Anecdotally, children may participate in
recreational activities without vision correction rather than risk
breaking their glasses. Unlike glasses, contact lenses provide clear
vision without impairing peripheral vision, so children may feel
that their athletic competence improves because they can see more
clearly while participating in recreational activities.
Scholastic Competence - Children’s
scholastic competence self-perceptions were affected by contact lens
wear more if they initially disliked wearing glasses than if they
were satisfied with spectacle wear. “It’s likely that children who
are dissatisfied with glasses chose to remove their vision
correction more often than children who do not mind wearing them,”
suggests Dr. Walline. “On the other hand, contact lens wearers are
unlikely to remove their vision correction during the day, resulting
in clear vision for distance classroom activities such as seeing
the blackboard.”
Social Acceptance –
Throughout the study, social acceptance self-perceptions were stable
for spectacle wearers, but they increased for contact lens wearers.
This finding is somewhat consistent with a cross-sectional study
that found that girls without vision correction reported greater
social acceptance self-perceptions than girls wearing glasses.
“Spectacle wear has been associated with shyness, introversion, and
lower social assertiveness,” says Dr. Prinstein. “These stereotypes
may play a role in children’s self-perceptions, especially for
girls.”
“The growing body of research in this area suggests
that parents and eye care practitioners should look beyond the
visual benefits of contact lens wear when choosing the most
appropriate vision correction modality for children as young as 8
years of age,” says Dr. Walline.
The ACHIEVE Study was supported by funding from Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc. and The Vision Care InstituteTM, LLC, a Johnson & Johnson Company.
About Total Eye Care,
Dr. Richard Driscoll and Dr. Alycia Green
Therapeutic Optometrist and Optometric
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Dr. Rich
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