title: Family functioning and adolescents' emotional and behavioral problems: when a parent has cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This article focuses on possible relationships between functioning of adolescents with a parent diagnosed with cancer 1-5 years earlier and family environment.
  
  
  METHODS
  In all, 138 patients, 114 spouses and 221 adolescents completed the Family Environment Scale. Additionally, adolescents filled in the Impact of Event Scale and Youth Self-report and parents reported on the adolescents' functioning using the Child Behavior Checklist.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients and spouses reported that their families differ from the norm; they are more expressive and social, better organized, less controlling and have less conflict. Adolescents reported the same and additionally find their family. Family environment was weakly to moderately strongly negatively related to the adolescents' functioning; family relationships related more strongly to the adolescents' functioning than family structure did. No significant relationship was found between family environment and the adolescents' cancer-related distress. Discrepancy in reports of family environment between parents and between parents and adolescents, in general, did not relate to the adolescents' functioning or distress. Parent-adolescent discrepancy only correlated with adolescent self-reports of their functioning.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Families with parental cancer functioned positively. Despite this, family functioning seems to be a risk factor for behavioral and emotional problems in adolescents.
authors.affiliation: Wenckebach Institute, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Gazendam-Donofrio
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Hoekstra
authors.forename: W T A
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: van der Graaf
authors.forename: H B M
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: van de Wiel
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Visser
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Huizinga
authors.forename: J E H M
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Hoekstra-Weebers
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D004644:Emotions; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D010290:Parents