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Coping and Adjustment in Children with Cancer: A Meta-Analytic Study

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The current meta-analysis assessed the efficacy of coping strategies on psychological and physical adjustment in children with cancer (n = 1230). Coping strategies were operationalized in accordance with two coping taxonomies; the first is based on the general orientation of the child's coping attempts (approach or avoidance), and the second is based upon coping efforts to regulate the stressor and/or feelings of distress attributed to it (problem-focused and emotion-focused). Approach, avoidance, and emotion-focused coping were unrelated to overall adjustment. A small-to-medium but negative association was found between problem-focused coping and adjustment, indicating more use of the strategies that compose this dimension are associated with poorer adjustment. However, homogeneity analyses also indicated significant variation for all of these effect sizes. Follow-up moderator analyses found coping-adjustment relations were both dependent upon time since diagnosis and the particular stressor the child was dealing with during treatment.

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Notes

  1. Because of the low number of studies per level of some categorical moderator variables, inferential statistical tests could not be calculated (or trusted) to compare effect size differences across levels. Therefore, the effect sizes at specific levels of a categorical moderator variable are simply described.

  2. For the weighted regression analyses, only a continuous measure of time since diagnosis was significantly associated with a coping-adjustment effect size. The interpretation of this specific emotion-focused-coping-adjustment relation is identical to that just described with the categorical time since diagnosis moderator. No other statistically significant continuous variables were found to moderate the coping-adjustment relation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. San Diego, Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, San Diego State University, and University California, San Diego, CA, USA

    Arianna A. Aldridge & Scott C. Roesch

  2. Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA, 92182-4611, USA

    Scott C. Roesch

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  1. Arianna A. Aldridge
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  2. Scott C. Roesch
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Correspondence to Scott C. Roesch.

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Aldridge, A.A., Roesch, S.C. Coping and Adjustment in Children with Cancer: A Meta-Analytic Study. J Behav Med 30, 115–129 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-006-9087-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-006-9087-y

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