Parent Emotion Regulation and Trajectories of Parent and Child Psychopathology During Pediatric Cancer Treatment

• In Event: Poster Session 05
  In Poster Session: PS 05 Topic - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Abstract

Background
The stress of having a child with cancer affects the entire family. Elevated levels of both child and parent psychopathology are observed and subsets of children and parents develop clinically significant symptoms. It is important to identify factors that confer greater resilience for psychopathology during cancer treatment in order to identify targets for intervention.
Emotion regulation (ER) may be a protective factor, as it has been associated with greater resilience to life stressors. Although limited research has been conducted on ER in the context of pediatric cancer, parent’s ER may be protective for both themselves and their children as parents’ ER strategies shape children’s own ER and subsequent risk for psychopathology.
The current study examines whether parent’s physiological and self-reported ER predict the trajectory of parent and child psychopathology during the first year of pediatric cancer treatment. We hypothesize that parental ER at the start of cancer treatment will predict lower levels of parent and child psychopathology one year later as well as greater decreases in psychopathology over time. ER is measured through self-report as well as resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). Given the lack of past research, it is unclear whether physiological and self-reported ER may differ in their prediction of child and parent psychopathology.

Methods
Families of children recently diagnosed with cancer (n = 159; child Mage = 5.6 years) were recruited to participate in a longitudinal study. Primary caregivers completed questionnaires on their own and their children’s psychopathology every month for twelve months. At three months, mothers were interviewed about their experiences of emotions using the Parent Meta-Emotion Interview, which was then coded for ER by trained research assistants. Mothers’ resting RSA was computed from heart rate recordings during this in-person visit.
We used multi-level models to test how parents’ self-reported and physiological ER were associated with individual trajectories of parent depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) as well as children’s depression/anxiety and externalizing symptoms.

Results
Both parent and child psychopathology symptoms decreased over time. There was a marginally significant main effect of RSA on parent PTSS such that RSA was positively associated with PTSS one year after diagnosis. There were no main effects of RSA on other measures of parent or child psychopathology. However, children of parents with higher RSA showed greater declines in depression/anxiety symptoms over time. Parents’ self-reported ER was associated with lower parent anxiety, depression, and PTSS one year after diagnosis, but was not associated with children’s psychopathology.

Conclusion
Parents’ self-reported and physiological ER differentially predicted their own and their children’s psychopathology. Despite their own initial subjective experiences of distress, parents who show greater physiological regulation at the start of treatment may be better positioned to help regulate their children’s distress. To alleviate parent and child psychopathology during cancer treatment, interventions should help parents to manage both their subjective feelings of distress and their physiological stress levels early on during treatment.

Authors

• Sameen Boparai, University of Washington
  Presenting Author

• Laina Keim, University of Washington
  Non-Presenting Author

• Liana Galtieri, University of Washington
  Non-Presenting Author

• Debra L. Friedman, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
  Non-Presenting Author

• Bruce Edward Compas, Vanderbilt University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lynn Fainsilber Katz, University Of Washington
  Non-Presenting Author