Posttraumatic stress symptoms in parents of children with cancer within six months of diagnosis.
Open accessAbstract
OBJECTIVE: To investigate levels and correlates of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in mothers and fathers of children and youth with cancer. METHODS: Mothers (n = 191) and fathers (n = 95), representing 195 families of children and youth with cancer, completed measures of PTSS (Impact of Event Scale-Revised), depression (Beck Depression Inventory-II), and anxiety (Beck Anxiety Inventory) between 2 and 22 weeks after their child's cancer diagnosis or recurrence of initial diagnosis. RESULTS: Substantial subgroups of mothers (41%) and fathers (30%) reported levels of PTSS that exceeded cut-offs for elevated symptoms, and these subgroups of parents were characterized by heightened symptoms of depression and anxiety. Fathers of children and youth treated for relapse reported higher rates of elevated PTSS than fathers of children and youth treated for first-time diagnosis, but mothers' rates were similar. Mothers and fathers reported comparable mean levels of PTSS that were strongly positively correlated with symptoms of anxiety and depression. PTSS and other symptoms of distress were negatively related to education level for fathers. CONCLUSION: These findings provide additional evidence that mothers and fathers experience substantial PTSS near the time of their child or adolescent's cancer diagnosis during the first 6 months of treatment. Results suggest that PTSS may be part of a broader pattern of emotional distress and that a substantial portion of both mothers and fathers of children and youth with cancer may be in need of supportive mental health services within the first 6 months of their child's diagnosis.
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Mothers are at greater risk of PTSD following their child's cancer diagnosis.
“These findings confirm that mothers are at greater risk of PTSD following their child's cancer diagnosis.”
From Styles of Delivering News About a Child's Cancer and Parents' PTSD Symptoms (2025) · cites this paper as [2]
The Results (Mothers’ and Fathers’ Elevated PTSS; page unavailable) report elevated posttraumatic stress symptoms in 41% of mothers and 30% of fathers. But the Results (Mean Levels of Mothers’ and Fathers’ Psychological Symptoms; page unavailable) found no significant difference in symptoms between mothers and fathers from the same families. The paper measures symptoms rather than establishing that mothers are at greater risk of PTSD. (LLM, conf=0.86)
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- Authors
- Dunn, M. J., Rodriguez, E. M., Barnwell, A. S., Grossenbacher, J. C., Vannatta, K., Gerhardt, C. A., & Compas, B. E.
- Affiliations
- Vanderbilt University (US)
- Nationwide Children's Hospital (US)
- Venue
- Health Psychology
- Published
- 2012
- Volume
- 31
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 176-185
- ISSN
- 0278-6133 (ISSN-L)
- 1930-7810
- PMC
- PMC4243458
- OpenAlex
- W2135910188
- Semantic Scholar
- b65ad3aa01b0afa0d2f2a91d428d4cc1f0677e9b
- Cited by
- 133
- References
- 43
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 6.52
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Update notices
- correction (2012-11-12)
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Health Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Cancer Insitute (R01CA118332)
- The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Childhood Cancer Survivors' Quality of Life
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer survivorship and care
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Family Support in Illness
- Keywords
- posttraumatic stress symptoms, parents of children with cancer, childhood cancer, depression, anxiety, tumor recurrence, parental emotional distress, educational attainment
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Anxiety, Child, Child, Preschool, Depression, Family Health, Fathers, Female, Humans, Male, Mothers, Neoplasms, Parent-Child Relations, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic
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