title: Risk behaviors and externalizing behaviors in adolescents dealing with parental cancer--a controlled longitudinal study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The results of studies concerning levels of internalizing and externalizing behaviors in adolescent children with a parent suffering from cancer as compared with control groups or normative data are contradictory so far. Longitudinal designs using control groups are rare. No study explicitly exploring a broad range of risk behaviors in adolescent children with a parent suffering from cancer exists to date.
  
  
  METHODS
  Therefore, 74 adolescents who have a parent with cancer (index group) were compared with 75 adolescents with healthy parents (control group) concerning several juvenile risk behaviors and externalizing behaviors. Participants were examined three times over the course of 12 months.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No significant main effects for group or interactional effects of group with time could be found for any of the measured variables.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results suggest that the somatic illness of the parent is not a developmental risk that is expressed in increased levels of juvenile risk behavior. Adolescents with a parent suffering from cancer adjusted generally quite well to the parental illness, although some individuals did show signs of severe strain.
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Center for Psychosocial Medicine, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Vanessa
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Jantzer
authors.forename: Juliane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Groß
authors.forename: Fridrike
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Stute
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Parzer
authors.forename: Romuald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Brunner
authors.forename: Katrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Willig
authors.forename: Bärbel
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schuller-Roma
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Keller
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Herzog
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Romer
authors.forename: Franz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Resch
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D016241:Child of Impaired Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000523:psychology*; D016015:Logistic Models; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: adolescence; externalizing behavior; parental cancer; psycho-oncology; risk behavior