Objective: To determine if maternal distress predicts child adjustment outcomes or if child adjustment outcomes predict maternal distress among children newly diagnosed with cancer, and if a parent-focused intervention has downstream effects on child adjustment.
Methods: Mothers (n = 52) were randomly assigned to a clinic-based, interdisciplinary intervention for parents of children newly diagnosed with cancer. Measures of maternal distress and child adjustment were collected at baseline, posttreatment, and follow-up.
Results: A lagged relationship was identified between maternal distress and child internalizing symptoms, but not externalizing symptoms. The parent intervention reduced child internalizing and externalizing symptoms at follow-up. Only the child internalizing symptoms effect was mediated by reduced maternal distress. The child externalizing symptoms effect was mediated by unobserved parent factors.
Conclusions: This study provides support for illness adjustment and coping models that emphasize the role of parent factors in driving child adjustment outcomes and is encouraging for future parent-focused intervention research.
Keywords: adjustment; cancer and oncology; children; parents.