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The relationship between parental overprotection and health-related quality of life in pediatric cancer: the mediating role of perceived child vulnerability

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Abstract

Purpose

The current study sought to examine the relation of parental overprotection and perceived child vulnerability to parent-reported health-related quality of life in parents of children with cancer.

Methods

Parents (N = 89) of children who had been diagnosed with cancer completed measures of parental overprotection, perceived child vulnerability, and parent-proxy report of health-related quality of life.

Results

After controlling for theoretically relevant covariates, parental overprotection and perceived child vulnerability were both found to be significantly related to child health-related quality of life. Additional analyses revealed that perceived child vulnerability mediated the relationship between overprotective parenting behaviors and the child’s health-related quality of life.

Conclusion

The findings highlight the need to assess for these discrete parenting variables in parents of children with cancer and to develop interventions to target parental perceptions of vulnerability.

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Abbreviations

ALL:

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia

CVS:

Child vulnerability scale

HIPAA:

Health insurance portability and accountability act

HRQOL:

Health-related quality of life

IRB:

Institutional review board

PedsQL:

Pediatric quality of life inventory 3.0 cancer module

PPS:

Parent protection scale

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Oklahoma State University, 116 North Murray Hall, Stillwater, OK, 74078, USA

    Stephanie E. Hullmann & Larry L. Mullins

  2. Department of Pediatrics/Neurology, Children’s Hospital of Michigan, Detroit, MI, USA

    Cortney Wolfe-Christensen

  3. Department of Pediatrics, Oklahoma University Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA

    William H. Meyer & Rene Y. McNall-Knapp

Authors
  1. Stephanie E. Hullmann
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  2. Cortney Wolfe-Christensen
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  3. William H. Meyer
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  4. Rene Y. McNall-Knapp
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  5. Larry L. Mullins
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stephanie E. Hullmann.

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Hullmann, S.E., Wolfe-Christensen, C., Meyer, W.H. et al. The relationship between parental overprotection and health-related quality of life in pediatric cancer: the mediating role of perceived child vulnerability. Qual Life Res 19, 1373–1380 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-010-9696-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-010-9696-3

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