Parents' Romantic Attachment Predicts Family Ritual Meaning and Family Cohesion Among Parents and Their Children With Cancer

Family Resources and Parental Problem‐Solving Skills Mediate Family Functioning and Family Adaptation in Families of Children With Cancer

Aims

To explore the mediating roles of family resources (at the individual [parental self‐efficacy], family [family resilience] and social level [social support]) and parental problem‐solving skills in the association between family functioning and family adaptation in families of children with cancer.

Design

A cross‐sectional study.

Methods

This study recruited 318 parents of children with cancer from three tertiary hospitals in mainland China. Self‐report questionnaires were used to collect data on key variables, including family functioning, parental self‐efficacy, family resilience, social support, parental problem‐solving skills and family adaptation. Data analyses were carried out using descriptive analysis, univariate analysis, Pearson correlation analysis, hierarchical linear regression and bootstrapping.

Results

Family functioning was significantly and positively correlated with family adaptation. Family resources (parental self‐efficacy at the individual level, family resilience at the family level or social support at the social level) and parental problem‐solving skills both independently mediated the relationship between family functioning and family adaptation. Additionally, family resources at all three levels mediated the relationship through their effects on cumulatively parental problem‐solving skills, constructing a chain mediating model.

Conclusions

The study underscores the significance of family functioning, family resources at the individual, family and social levels and parental problem‐solving skills in promoting adaptation in families of children with cancer. It highlights the need for family‐centred interventions targeted at these factors to improve family adaptation.

Impact

This study extended related theories and previous studies to confirm the mediating role of family resources and parental problem‐solving skills, both independently and sequentially. Moreover, parental problem‐solving skills were confirmed as key elements that can be incorporated into future interventions, suggesting that problem‐solving skills training may serve as a highly promising program for families of children with cancer.

Reporting Method

This study was reported according to the STROBE checklist.

Patient or Public Contribution

No Patient or Public Contribution.

Research on the effects of family rituals on subjective well-being of Chinese college students

Faced with multiple pressures from family, study, employment and interpersonal relationship management, college students are more likely to suffer from mental health problems. At present, psychological intervention in China mainly focuses on drugs and interviews, ignoring the important role played by the family as a bio-psycho-social unit, and there are certain cultural compatibility differences. As an important activity in family life, family rituals have been widely used in the treatment of diseases or mental health in western countries. In contrast, in China, the public's attention and application of family rituals are obviously insufficient, and the relevant academic research results are relatively rare. In view of this, this paper adopts mathematical statistics method to clarify the internal relationship between family rituals and subjective well-being of college students, and verify the mediating role of family system in it, so as to provide effective suggestions for psychological health intervention of college students. The results showed that: Family rituals, family system and subjective well-being are correlated in pairs, showing a significant positive correlation; Family rituals and family system have significant predictive effects on subjective well-being of college students; The cohesion and adaptability play part of mediating roles between college students' family rituals and subjective well-being.

How food brings us together: The ties between attachment and food behaviors

Interpersonal food behaviors, such as food sharing and food offering, are associated with closeness between people and thought to facilitate the formation and strengthening of social bonds. Despite the importance of food and food-related behavior in general and for social bonding specifically, there is relatively little research about the psychological underpinnings of food-related behavior within relationship science. To fill this gap, we conducted three studies focusing on food behaviors and attachment style. In Study 1, we found attachment avoidance to be negatively associated with engagement in food sharing behaviors, and with a lower likelihood of dating a potential partner due to the partner's food preferences. In Study 2, we found that enhancing attachment security increased the tendency to offer one's food to a fellow participant. In Study 3, we found that the tendency to accept food from a fellow participant was positively associated with attachment anxiety, but security priming did not affect this tendency. Implications for attachment, close relationships, and food sciences are discussed.

ATTACHMENT STYLE IN CHILDREN WITH CHRONIC DISEASES: A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW

Objective:

To investigate how attachment style has been studied in children with chronic disease in the scientific literature, and what repercussions this attachment has on this population.

Data sources:

An integrative review of the literature was carried out from a survey in the LILACS, MEDLINE and SciELO databases, including original national and international publications in Portuguese, Spanish and English from 2007 to 2018, using the descriptors “apego” and “criança” in the Health Sciences Descriptors (DeCS), and “attachment” and “children” for the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). Sixteen (16 articles) were obtained for the sample analysis.

Data synthesis:

The chronic diseases found in the research were neurobehavioral disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism, childhood obesity, and chronic migraine. The predominant attachment style was insecurity, which could compromise the biopsychosocial development of the child.

Conclusions:

The type of attachment between child and primary caregiver may be considered a protective or risk factor for child development. Considering this premise, it is important to equip/inform families based on dialogic educational practices, in which professionals create opportunities and means for families to develop their skills and competencies, and acquire resources which meet the child’s needs. It is important that this professional helps the family to build secure bases for their child with chronic disease, understanding that the main focus for promoting child development is in the family unit.

Family Adjustment When Facing Pediatric Cancer: The Role of Parental Psychological Flexibility, Dyadic Coping, and Network Support

OBJECTIVES

Pediatric cancer is a life-threatening disease that poses significant challenges to the life of all family members (diagnosed child, parents, and siblings) and the family as a whole. To date, limited research has investigated family adjustment when facing pediatric cancer. The aim of the current study was to explore the role of protective factors at the individual (parental psychological flexibility), intrafamilial (dyadic coping) and contextual level (network support) in explaining family adjustment as perceived by parents of children with leukemia or non-Hodgkin lymphoma. In addition, we were interested to see whether these protective factors could be predictive for family adjustment at a later time point.

METHOD

Participants were 70 mothers and 53 fathers (80 families) of children with leukemia or non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Mean time since diagnosis was 5.26 (T1) and 18.86 (T2) months post-diagnosis. Parents completed the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire II (to assess psychological flexibility), Dyadic Coping Inventory, a network support questionnaire, Impact on Family Scale and the Family Adjustment Scale. Both concurrent and prospective association models were tested.

RESULTS

Psychological flexibility, dyadic coping and network support proved to be cross-sectionally and positively related to parents' perception of family adjustment post-diagnosis; psychological flexibility and dyadic coping proved to predict better family adjustment over time.

CONCLUSION

Our findings led to the conclusion that protective factors at all three levels (individual, intrafamilial and contextual) are important for explaining family adjustment as perceived by parents facing a diagnosis of cancer in their child. Interventions targeting the individual, couple, as well as family level are warranted to enhance family adjustment.

Factors Associated with Emotional Distress in Children and Adolescents during Early Treatment for Cancer

PURPOSE

Children and adolescents diagnosed with cancer experience emotional distress, such as sadness, worrying, and irritability. However, there is little information about the psychological well-being of parents at the time of their child's diagnosis. We sought to identify factors that were associated with emotional distress in cancer patients as a basis for developing innovative psychological interventions.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A retrospective chart review was performed on patients newly diagnosed with cancer at a single center in Korea from 2014 to 2016. Eighty-five patients and their mothers completed psychological inventories. To determine factors associated with emotional distress in patients, we assessed the psychological inventory results using multiple linear regression after performing correlation analysis.

RESULTS

The maternal Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) score was positively correlated with total problem scores and externalizing scores in patients aged less than 7 years. In patients aged 7-12 years, there was no significant association between the patient's emotional distress and other variables. In contrast, the maternal BDI-II score was the strongest factor associated with patient depression in adolescents.

CONCLUSION

We suggest that the most important factor affecting emotional distress in children and adolescents with cancer is maternal depression, especially in patients aged 1-6 years and aged 13-17 years. Understanding the factors associated with emotional distress of cancer patients allows us to develop early psychiatric interventions for patients and their parents at the initial psychological crisis.