Parental Separation and Pediatric Cancer: A Danish Cohort Study

Abstract

WHAT'S KNOWN ON THIS SUBJECT: Cancer in a child may affect the quality of the parents' relationship, but few studies have examined a potential effect on parental divorce, and no studies have accounted for the proportion of couples that live outside formal marriages. WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS:In this nationwide registry-based study with up to 20 years of follow-up, we included both married and cohabiting couples, reflecting modern family structures. We found that experiencing cancer in a child is not a risk factor for the parents separating.abstract OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine the risk for separation (ending cohabitation) of the parents of a child with a diagnosis of cancer. METHODS:In a nationwide cohort, we compared the risk for ending cohabitation of the parents of 2450 children (aged 0-20 years) given a diagnosis of cancer with the risk of parents of 44 853 randomly selected, gender-and age-matched cancer-free children. We adjusted for socioeconomic position and demographic factors. Rate ratios and 95% confidence intervals for separation were estimated in a Cox proportional hazards model. RESULTS:The parents of children with cancer did not have a higher risk for separation than the general population (rate ratio: 1.00 [95% confidence interval: 0.91-1.10]). Separate analyses according to type of cancer and survival of the child similarly yielded null results.CONCLUSIONS: Experiencing cancer in a child does not seem to be a risk factor for separation. Our study will allow clinicians to reassure parents and to support them in facing the trauma of cancer in their child.

Family life events in the first year of acute lymphoblastic leukemia therapy: A children's oncology group report

“…It is difficult to determine the effect of the cancer diagnosis as baseline marriage quality was not assessed. Even so, our results concur with previous studies, which likewise report no impact on divorce rates .…”

“…In addition to inclusion of patients with heterogeneous cancers, past studies of the family burden of childhood ALL were in earlier treatment eras or used retrospective data. Studies of childhood cancer's impact on parental marriages yielded conflicting results, with regards to divorce/separation rates . Studies regarding financial burdens likewise showed mixed results though recent studies have utilized prospectively recorded expense‐journals .…”

“…While these strains have been studied in cohorts with mixed types of pediatric cancer, less is known about children specifically treated for ALL with current treatment regimens.In addition to inclusion of patients with heterogeneous cancers, past studies of the family burden of childhood ALL were in earlier treatment eras or used retrospective data. Studies of childhood cancer's impact on parental marriages yielded conflicting results, with regards to divorce/separation rates [2][3][4][5][6][7]. Studies regarding financial burdens likewise showed mixed results though recent studies have utilized prospectively recorded expense-journals [3,[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15].…”

Relationship status and quality of the partner relationship in parents of long‐term childhood cancer survivors: The Swiss Childhood Cancer Survivor Study‐Parents

“…Similarly, a Danish study concluded that childhood cancer did not affect parental separation rates. 23 Collectively, these findings suggest that many parent dyads adapt well to the crisis of having a child with cancer. Indeed, a recent review concluded that childhood cancer does not necessarily affect parent's functioning in terms of emotional closeness, support, and marital satisfaction.…”

Psychometric Properties of the Persian Version of the Sibling Cancer Needs Instrument (SCNI)

“…One of the tense incidents is the diagnosis of cancer in one of the family's children. It may cause complications in the adjustment of an adolescent family member such as a sibling of the child with cancer, and has consequences such as less communication with parents, changes in the sibling's relations, feeling jealous of the sick child and being angry with parents (Prchal and Landolt, 2012;Peek and Melnyk, 2010;Grant et al, 2012;Dambi et al, 2015). In such a situation, the adolescent may feel isolated and neglected due to his/her inability to adapt to the situation, being more vulnerable during puberty regarding parents' focus on the needs of the sick family member.…”