Parents of children with cancer demonstrate resilience to this challenge.

PTS and PTG appear to be relatively independent constructs, and their relation is dependent on contextual factors. The majority of youth appear to be resilient, and even those who experience significant distress were able to find benefit.

Parental distress and the parent-child relationship likely play an important role in both youth- and parent-reported adjustment, and associations among these constructs do not differ between CCS and healthy peers. Families with less optimal parental functioning may benefit from interventions improving the quality of parent-child interactions.

The experience of childhood cancer may strengthen the link between parent and child psychological functioning. However, child exposure to other life events may weaken this link.

The majority of pediatric cancer survivors exhibit enduring resilience. The protective factors identified for them-including positive affectivity and strong connectedness to school-may inform targeted prevention strategies for the minority of survivors who are at risk for maladjustment.

Although parental distress and child distress have been linked in families of children with cancer, how these associations change over time is unknown. The present study examined how the amount of time elapsed since the child’s diagnosis moderates the associations between self-reported parent and child symptoms of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress in 255 parent-child dyads. Time since diagnosis moderated the associations between parental symptoms and child-reported anxiety and post-traumatic stress. Dyads farther out from diagnosis exhibited stronger associations between parental and child symptoms. Findings suggest the importance of monitoring the psychological adjustment of parents and children over time.

Social information processing (SIP) theory has been useful in understanding male aggression both generally and within intimate relationships. This study examined a SIP model of parenting risk in adolescent males (N = 77) who are not yet parents but have characteristics found in adult men who have physically abused children. Three SIP factors were predicted to play a role in the use of punishment: rigid and inappropriate child expectations (schema), problem‐solving abilities and attributions of negative child intent. The adolescents in this study exhibited SIP difficulties at levels similar to those found in maltreating mothers and mothers at risk for perpetrating child maltreatment. As predicted, those who had more unrealistic expectations gave significantly more irrelevant solutions to child‐rearing problems, made more negative intent attributions and assigned higher levels of punishment when presented with aversive child behaviour scenarios. Testing of the full model using structural equation modeling revealed, as predicted, significant direct paths between two SIP elements (problem‐solving and attributions) and punishment levels assigned to children. An indirect path between expectations and punishment through attributions was also found. History of abuse did not add to the model in this at‐risk sample. Implications of findings for prevention and future directions are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Key Practitioner Message The SIP model argues that caregivers who have unrealistic expectations of children show poorer problem‐solving in child‐rearing situations, and make more negative intent attributions to children's behaviour are at greater risk for inadequate and inappropriate parenting, including child maltreatment.

To investigate the differential emergence of antisocial behaviors and mood dysregulation among children with externalizing problems, the present study prospectively followed 317 high-risk children with early externalizing problems from school entry (ages 5–7) to late adolescence (ages 17–19). Latent class analysis conducted on their conduct and mood symptoms in late adolescence revealed three distinct patterns of symptoms, characterized by: 1) criminal offenses, conduct disorder symptoms, and elevated anger (“conduct problems”), 2) elevated anger, dysphoric mood, and suicidal ideation (“mood dysregulation”), and 3) low levels of severe conduct and mood symptoms. A diathesis-stress model predicting the first two outcomes was tested. Elevated overt aggression at school entry uniquely predicted conduct problems in late adolescence, whereas elevated emotion dysregulation at school entry uniquely predicted mood dysregulation in late adolescence. Experiences of low parental warmth and peer rejection in middle childhood moderated the link between early emotion dysregulation and later mood dysregulation but did not moderate the link between early overt aggression and later conduct problems. Thus, among children with early externalizing behavior problems, increased risk for later antisocial behavior or mood dysfunction may be identifiable in early childhood based on levels of overt aggression and emotion dysregulation. For children with early emotion dysregulation, however, increased risk for mood dysregulation characterized by anger, dysphoric mood, and suicidality – possibly indicative of disruptive mood dysregulation disorder – emerges only in the presence of low parental warmth and/or peer rejection during middle childhood.