The relationship between parental overprotection and health-related quality of life in pediatric cancer: the mediating role of perceived child vulnerability.
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.
Hullmann
Stephanie E
SE
Department of Psychology, Oklahoma State University, 116 North Murray Hall, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA. stephanie.hullmann@okstate.edu
Wolfe-Christensen
Cortney
C
Meyer
William H
WH
McNall-Knapp
Rene Y
RY
Mullins
Larry L
LL
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