The relationship between parental overprotection and health-related quality of life in pediatric cancer: the mediating role of perceived child vulnerability.

PURPOSE: 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.

CONCLUSION

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.