Parents of Children with Cancer Child-Rearing Practices



Abstract

Obtained self-reports of parenting practices from fathers and mothers of 24 children with cancer, and 24 controls using the Child-Rearing Practices Report (CRPR). Cancer patients were primarily in long-term remission and represented a typical pattern of childhood malignancies. Same age/sex controls were recruited from the classrooms of the children with cancer. In addition, CRPR ratings were obtained from experts in pediatric oncology based upon their prediction of how a parent of a child with cancer would respond. The experts predicted differences in the areas of over involvement, discipline, worry about the child, nutritional concerns, and use of supernatural explanations. Results from parents showed surprising similarity between the parents of children with cancer and control parents, and disagreement with the experts. Discussion focuses on explanations for this apparent contradiction.

Parents of Children with Cancer Child-Rearing Practices

Introduction

Advances in medical technology have had a positive impact on childhood cancer survivability. In 1967, the 5-year event-free survival rate for a child with acute lymphocytic leukemia, the most common childhood malignancy, was 18%; by 1981, the 5-year event-free survival rate for this disease had increased to approximately 60% . Because treatment has become so much more effective for children and adolescents, it has been estimated that by the year 2008, one in every 1,000 adults between the ages of 20 and 29 will be a survivor of childhood cancer. These increasing rates of survival suggest a need for better understanding of the effects of childhood cancer and its arduous treatment on the child and family. One essential area to examine is the impact of the disease and its treatment on the parents' child-rearing practices.

Professionals from both a clinical and empirical perspective have suggested that raising a child with cancer alters parents' ability to parent effectively. The consistent picture that emerges suggests problems related to over protectiveness; difficulty with consistent discipline and expression of appropriate anger towards the child; and concerns about "spoiling" the child.

Research Question

The current study was designed to look at two questions using a standardized instrument of child-rearing practices and attitudes.

First, what differences do professionals who work with families of children with cancer perceive between the parenting in these families as compared to "normal" families?

Second, what differences in child-rearing orientation are reported by mothers and fathers of children with cancer as compared to parents of matched community controls?

Purpose of study

The purpose of this study is to focuses on professional perceptions and parent self-reported child-rearing practices, not the actual behavior of parents or children.

METHOD

Subjects

This study of parenting was one aspect of a larger longitudinal investigation of the psychosocial impact of cancer and its treatment on children or adolescents and their families. Group comparisons of age of parents, number of children living at home, and family religion showed no differences between the two groups of families. Twenty of the families with a child with cancer and 22 control families were two parent families (there were 18 pairs of two-parent ...