Social skills and psychological adjustment of child and adolescent cancer survivors

Abstract

Social skills and psychological adjustment for survivors of childhood cancer were investigated. Cancer survivors included 42 children and adolescents ranging in age at evaluation from 6 to 18 years with a mean age of 13.1 years. Measures included teacher and parent ratings of social skills and adjustment and parent ratings of family functioning. The findings showed that social skills and psychological adjustment as rated by both parents and teachers were primarily associated with academic functioning. In addition, family cohesiveness was found to account for nearly one third of the variance in survivors' adjustment when rated by teachers, and length of time off treatment accounted for a significant percentage of the variance in children's adjustment when rated by parents. The findings underscore the importance of a multi-informant approach to the assessment of psychological adjustment of pediatric cancer survivors and demonstrate the role of learning difficulties and family functioning in influencing social skills and adjustment for these children and adolescents. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.