Siblings of children with cancer encounter stressors and challenges that can lead to severe distress and a host of psychological difficulties. Factors including age, gender, and disease characteristics of the child with cancer are reported to influence sibling adjustment. The majority of research, however, is dated, inconsistent, and marred by methodological problems. Guided by the disability-stress-coping model, the study examined the: (a) frequency of sibling and parent reported symptoms of anxiety and depression, internalizing and externalizing behavior problems, and somatic problems, (b) influence of sibling, family, and disease factors on sibling adjustment, (c) moderating effects of age on the relationship between sibling factors and sibling adjustment, and (d) mediating effect of primary cognitive appraisal on the relationship between self-esteem and sibling adjustment.
One hundred and eight siblings (7-17 years; 51 males; 57 females) participated. Siblings completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children and the Children’s Depression Inventory to provide measures of sibling reported symptoms of anxiety and depression. Parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist to provide measures of parent reported internalizing behavior problems, externalizing behavior problems, and somatic problems. The communication and intrapersonal thoughts and feelings subscales of the Sibling Perception Questionnaire, completed by siblings, were used to assess perceived social support and primary cognitive appraisal. Self-esteem was assessed with the global self-worth subscale of the Self Perception Profile for Children/Adolescents, completed by siblings. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to assess the direct and indirect effects of sibling, family, and disease factors on psychological outcomes.
Siblings and parents reported higher incidents of clinically significant symptoms of anxiety, internalizing behavior problems, and somatic problems than expected in a normative population. Sibling age and gender, diagnosis of the child with cancer, social support, self-esteem, and primary cognitive appraisal were significantly associated with sibling and parent reported psychological adjustment measures. Age moderated the relationship between gender, social support, and primary cognitive appraisal and several adjustment outcomes. Lastly, primary cognitive appraisal partially mediated the relationship between self-esteem and sibling reported anxiety and depression symptoms. These findings highlight the need for sibling psychosocial interventions and provide direction for the development and implementation of such groups.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:OTU.1807/26423 |
| Date | 28 February 2011 |
| Creators | Massie, Kendra |
| Contributors | Barrera, Maru |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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