Pediatric cancer and the quality of children's dyadic peer interactions.
OBJECTIVE
To use observational methods to assess the quality of peer relationships in 51 7- to 12-year-old acute lymphoblastic leukemia survivors as compared to healthy children.


METHODS
Children were audiotaped as they engaged in free play with their best friend and interactions were coded to assess their ability to maintain engagement with one another during play as well as the affective dimension of their play.


RESULTS
Results indicated that dyads with survivors of childhood cancer were less likely to be highly engaged with their best friend and more likely to experience disengagement than dyads with healthy participants. There were no group differences in positive or negative affect.


CONCLUSIONS
Overall, these data suggest that survivors of childhood cancer's relationships with their best friend may be compromised in some specific areas when compared to the relations of healthy children. Implications for intervention are discussed.
Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Box 351525, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. katzlf@u.washington.edu
Lynn Fainsilber
LF
Katz
Alison
A
Leary
David
D
Breiger
Debra
D
Friedman
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000339:Affect; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D010988:Play and Playthings; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*