Objective: The aim of this study was to compare psychosocial functioning as well as the quality of life of young adults after orthognathic procedures and healthy individuals.
Materials and methods: The study included 124 respondents aged between 16 and 25 years, 65 of whom had undergone orthognathic surgeries, and 59 healthy individuals. The study was carried out using a diagnostic poll method with both standardized tools and the author's own questionnaires: Authors own questionnaire, 'How do you cope?' Questionnaire, Emotional Intelligence INTE Questionnaire, The List of Personal Values (LOPV), The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), and The Short Form Health Survey (SF-36 v2).
Results: Patients after orthognathic procedures more frequently actively dealt with problems and sought social support rather than concentrating on emotions in terms of dispositional ways of coping with difficult situations. A statistically significant difference was established in the concentration on emotions subscale (CoE) for which lower average value was observed in the study group. Study and control groups differed in terms of the ability to recognise, understand, and control their own and other's emotions.
Conclusions: Respondents from both groups similarly perceived personal values pointing to love and friendship, health, intelligence as well as happiness as the most important ones. Both patients after orthognathic procedures and healthy ones assessed their life satisfaction on an average level. A link between the choice of the strategy of coping with difficult situations and the fact of having undergone an orthognathic procedure exists. Patients after surgical procedures, in comparison with healthy individuals, less frequently opted for the concentration on emotions (CoE) strategy.