When mom or dad has cancer: II. Coping, cognitive appraisals, and psychological distress in children of cancer patients.

Abstract

Cognitive appraisals and coping were examined in children, adolescents, and young adults (N = 134) faced with the diagnosis of cancer in a parent. All 3 age groups perceived low personal control and high external control over their parent's illness and used relatively little problemfocused coping. Adolescents and young adults reported more emotion-focused coping and dual-focused coping (both problem-and emotion-focused in intent) than did preadolescent children. Stage and prognosis of parent's cancer were related to appraisals of greater seriousness and stressfulness, and to more avoidance; however, only appraisals of stress were related to symptoms of anxiety-depression. Emotion-focused coping was related to greater avoidance and to higher symptoms of anxiety-depression; coping and control beliefs did not interact in their association with anxiety-depression symptoms.

Kinder körperlich kranker Eltern: Psychische Belastungen, Wege der Bewältigung und Perspektiven der seelischen Gesundheitsvorsorge

“…Insbesondere die Dauer der Erkrankung schien in keiner der bisherigen Studien eine Rolle zu spielen (Lewis, Hammond, Woods, 1993;Visser et al, 2005;Huizinga et al, 2005b;Howes et al, 1994;Compas et al, 1994;Compas, Worsham, Ey, Howell, 1996;Welch et al, 1996;Watson et al, 2006). Die niederländische Forschergruppe um Visser Huizinga et al, 2005) (Watson et al, 2006).…”

Quality of Life of Multiethnic Adolescents Living with a Parent with Cancer

“…One in five children encountered parental death from cancer; more often paternal than maternal and in parents diagnosed with leukemia or brain, colorectal, and lung tumors (Syse, 2012). Reports suggest that adolescents can go into a state of shock, followed by severe stress, lack of concentration, depression, anxiety and anarchic sleep (Nelson et al, 1994;Compas et al, 1996). Even the adolescent's distress has been found to change with the stage of the parental illness (Lindqvist et al, 2007) and the readjusting phase after the parent's primary diagnosis was usually extensively distressing for adolescents (Welch et al, 1996).…”

Addressing parenting concerns of bone marrow transplant patients: opening (and closing) Pandora's box

“…It is safe to say that both boys and girls are susceptible to feelings of anxiety and depression, and to behaving impulsively or aggressively, but the majority continue to function well despite the stress of the illness. Parents should be made aware that adolescents often selfreport feeling more anxious and depressed than their parents realize, 24,27,32,50,54 particularly when a parent is ill. It is important that parents actively check in with their adolescents about their emotional experience, and not assume all is well just because an adolescent is not complaining.…”

“…However, research on the factors believed to influence children's resilience in coping with parental cancer more generally provides a starting point for understanding the reactions of this smaller group of children. Some factors related to resilience include characteristics of the child, such as the child's age, [24][25][26][27] gender 25,[28][29][30] and coping strategies; 31,32 characteristics of the parents, such as the gender of the ill parent, 25,33,34 the parents' emotional and physical functioning, 26,30 and parents' coping strategies; 28 characteristics of the illness, such as whether the cancer has recurred, 25 the treatment demands, 26,30 the perceived stressfulness of the illness 27,33 and the family's previous exposure to cancer; 35 family size 26 and family functioning, cohesiveness and flexibility. 30,[37][38][39][40] The bottom line clinically is that although a parent's cancer is a stressor, the significance of the impact varies child-to-child and family-to-family.…”