The Socioecology of Parental Adjustment to Pediatric Cancer: The Roles of Individual and Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status in Parental Social Support and Depressive Symptoms.

OBJECTIVE: Parents of children with cancer are at risk for depressive symptoms, and previous research has linked their level of distress to various demographic, social, and economic factors. However, little research has examined associations between parental depressive symptoms and multiple socioecological factors at once. The current study examined how socioeconomic status (SES) at the individual and neighborhood level is related to parental depressive symptoms and social support satisfaction in Latinx and non-Latinx parents of children recently diagnosed with cancer, and whether social support satisfaction mediated associations between SES and depressive symptoms. METHODS: Parents (N = 115; 82% female; 30% Latinx) completed questionnaires reporting their demographic information, social support satisfaction, and depressive symptoms. Neighborhood SES was coded by block group level based on participants' home addresses. RESULTS: Individual, but not neighborhood, SES was positively associated with social support satisfaction, and higher social support satisfaction was associated with lower depressive symptoms. There was a significant indirect effect of individual (but not neighborhood) SES on depressive symptoms through social support satisfaction. Latinx parents reported lower individual SES, but not lower social support satisfaction or depressive symptoms than non-Latinx parents. CONCLUSIONS: These results highlight the important role of social support in the adjustment of parents who have a child with pediatric cancer. Findings suggest that families may benefit from services that target multiple levels of their social ecology.

Patient and sibling adjustment to pediatric cancer: the roles of parental relationship adjustment and depressive symptoms.

PURPOSE: Pediatric cancer may impact parents' partner relationship and increase patient, parent, and sibling distress. This study examined parents' reports of their relationship adjustment and depressive symptoms and their association with their ratings of patients' and siblings' emotional/behavioral problems in families of recently diagnosed pediatric cancer patients. DESIGN: Cross-sectional questionnaire study. SAMPLE: A total of 31 parents (87% female; 71% Latino) of pediatric cancer patients. METHODS: Parents reported on their relationship adjustment, depressive symptoms, and the patients' and siblings' emotional/behavioral problems. FINDINGS: Poorer relationship adjustment was correlated with more parent depressive symptoms and patient emotional/behavioral problems. Parent depressive symptoms were positively correlated with emotional/behavioral problems in patients and siblings. After accounting for child age and parent depressive symptoms, relationship adjustment remained significantly associated with patient, but not sibling, problems. CONCLUSIONS: When parents have poorer relationship adjustment following diagnosis, children with cancer may be at increased risk for emotional/behavioral problems. IMPLICATIONS FOR PSYCHOSOCIAL PROVIDERS OR POLICY: Interventions targeting the partner relationship may be relevant to supporting family adjustment following diagnosis.