Understanding differences in the long-term psychosocial adjustment of pediatric cancer patients and their parents: an individual differences resources model

Abstract

The experience of childhood cancer is a major life stressor for children and their parents. There is substantial variability among pediatric cancer patients and their parents in their ability to cope with the cancer. Although other models typically focus on the psychological resources families use to broadly cope with a diagnosis of pediatric cancer, we present a model that focuses specifically how parents and children cope with the stress of invasive and often painful treatment episodes. Our resources model is further distinct with its focus on individual differences in personal (e.g., personality traits) and social (e.g., social support) resources and the role these differences may play in psychosocial adjustment of families confronting pediatric cancer. We use findings from the broader pediatric cancer research literature and our own 15-year program of research on individual differences in psychological resources and parents and children's responses to treatment episodes to provide empirical support for our model. Support was found for the six premises of the model: (a) parent resources influence their longer-term psychosocial adjustment, (b) parent resources influence children's responses to treatment episodes, (c) parent resources indirectly influence their longer-term psychosocial adjustment through their responses to treatment episodes, (d) children's personal resources influence how parent responses to treatment episodes, (e) children's resources influence their longer-term psychosocial adjustment, and (f) children's resources indirectly influence their longer-term psychosocial adjustment through their responses to treatment episodes. Understanding how the availability of resources influences parents and children confronting cancer provides a foundation for future research on individual differences in resources and offers other avenues through which clinicians can assess and treat families at risk for poor psychosocial adjustment during treatment and in their life beyond cancer treatments.

Characteristics of the school adaptation of college freshmen during the COVID-19 epidemic

“…Regarding other influencing factors, several theoretical models have been developed and have postulated that individual psychological, economic, and social resources are significantly related to the adjustment of incoming college students. For example, the individual difference resource model suggests that 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.915403 individuals and their families that have certain personal and social resources can effectively reduce the negative effects to their psychosocial adjustment of major life stressors (Harper et al, 2019). In this regard, college freshmen with fewer resources, such as college freshmen with siblings, minority college freshmen, and college freshmen with low SES, may have more problems with college adaptation than college freshmen with greater resources.…”

Adverse childhood experiences and resilience in childhood and adolescent and young adult cancer patients

“…However, resilience or harnessing resources to sustain well‐being during adversity can mitigate effects of ACEs 9,10 . Resilience has been studied in childhood and AYA cancer populations 11–13 and can be cultivated, providing a target for intervention to improve outcomes for those with ACEs.…”

“…in childhood and AYA cancer populations [11][12][13] and can be cultivated, providing a target for intervention to improve outcomes for those with ACEs.…”

Introduction to the special issue on child and family health: the role of behavioral medicine in understanding and optimizing child health

“…Mothers in the relationship enhancement group reported improvements in their individual adjustment and parenting self-efficacy; however, most relationship-or dyadic-related improvements reported by both mothers and fathers, as well as individual adjustment improvements among fathers, were observed among couples that received the comparison intervention [18]. Harper et al [19] propose a new conceptual model for understanding how children diagnosed with cancer and their parents cope with the child's cancer-related treatment episodes which can be stressful, invasive, and painful. In particular, this model takes into account the varying personal and social resources that parents and children have and how those resources may affect their coping with the child's treatment episodes and have implications for their long-term psychosocial functioning [19].…”

“…Harper et al [19] propose a new conceptual model for understanding how children diagnosed with cancer and their parents cope with the child's cancer-related treatment episodes which can be stressful, invasive, and painful. In particular, this model takes into account the varying personal and social resources that parents and children have and how those resources may affect their coping with the child's treatment episodes and have implications for their long-term psychosocial functioning [19]. The articles in this section underscore the importance of considering both the child's responses to health risks and illness, and their broader context, including their family and school, when seeking to understand and intervene on their adjustment and health behaviors.…”