Bruxing and non-bruxing children: a comparison of their personality traits.

Abstract

A study ofb~uxism among 358five- and six-year-old kindergarten children using a parental history confirmed by an intraoral examination has shown a prevalence of 15% bruxers. A further 15.4 % of children showed clinical evidence of bruxism without parental awareness of the habit. Males and females were equally affected by the habit. Using the Missouri Children’s Picture Series as the psychological test, a subsample of 50 bruxers and 50 non-bruxers were found not to differ significantly with respect to eight psychological traits: conformity, masculinity~femininity, maturity, aggression, inhibition, activity level, sleep disturbance and somatization. The study suggests that lreuxism may be a relatively common childhood habit and at age five or six years this habit appears to have little psychological significance.