title: The relationship between parental overprotection and health-related quality of life in pediatric cancer: the mediating role of perceived child vulnerability.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  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.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Oklahoma State University, 116 North Murray Hall, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA. stephanie.hullmann@okstate.edu
authors.forename: Stephanie E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Hullmann
authors.forename: Cortney
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wolfe-Christensen
authors.forename: William H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.forename: Rene Y
authors.initials: RY
authors.lastname: McNall-Knapp
authors.forename: Larry L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Mullins
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008485:Medical Audit; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D035862:Vulnerable Populations; D055815:Young Adult