Abstract Title
Parenting behaviors predict effortful control and internalizing/externalizing problems among children during the first year of a cancer diagnosis

Research Category
Biobehavioral Health / Psychology / Psychiatry

Author(s)
Emily Shultz
Madelaine Keim, B.A., Kathryn Vannatta, Ph.D., Bruce E. Compas, Ph.D., & Cynthia A. Gerhardt, Ph.D.

Abstract
Objective: Effortful control (EC) is traditionally conceptualized as a stable temperamental characteristic and involves the efficiency of executive functioning that contributes to emotion regulation. However, previous research indicates that EC can be shaped by parental interactions. Specifically, one study found that a child’s EC mediates the relationship between positive parenting and fewer externalizing problems (Eisenberg et. al, 2005). Considering that family relationships may be disrupted following a child’s diagnosis of cancer, we examined how parenting one month after the diagnosis or relapse (T1) predicts internalizing and externalizing problems one year after diagnosis (T2), and the indirect role of a child’s EC in this relationship (T2).
Methods: Within a larger longitudinal study, families (N = 62) were assessed one month (T1) and one year (T2) after their child’s diagnosis of cancer. Children (ages 10-18; M = 13.5, SD = 2.4) reported on parenting at T1 using the Parent-Adolescent Communication Scale (PACS) and the Child Report of Parenting Behavior Inventory (CRPBI). One year after diagnosis (T2), mothers reported on their child’s EC with the Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire (EAT-Q) and their child’s internalizing and externalizing problems with the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL).
Results: A series of multiple regressions indicated that child report of parenting at T1, including lower psychological control and fewer communication problems, predicted both fewer internalizing and externalizing problems at T2 and were each partially mediated by child EC (p < .01).
Conclusions: Maternal parenting behaviors shortly after a cancer diagnosis was significantly associated with a child’s EC, which then in turn was associated with externalizing and internalizing problems one year from the diagnosis. Interventions could focus on teaching positive parenting skills shortly after a cancer diagnosis in order to reduce communication problems and psychological control among mothers. Future studies might examine the role of father’s parenting behaviors as well.