Date of Graduation

1997

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

PhD

College

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Not Listed

Committee Chair

Andrew S. Bradlyn

Committee Co-Chair

Joseph P. Lynch

Committee Member

Kevin T. Larkin

Committee Member

Carole V. Harris

Committee Member

Stanley H. Cohen

Abstract

Mental health professionals are increasingly examining psychosocial issues of individuals with medical illnesses. Research has demonstrated that when the medical patient is a parent, the entire family experiences the crisis and impact of the diagnosis and treatment. Despite these findings, few studies have examined the impact of a parental life-threatening illness on children. The psychological and behavioral adjustment of children with a parent receiving a bone marrow transplant (BMT) was compared to that of children in a matched community group. Forty child-parent dyads (20 BMT and 20 Community) completed three self-report measures at pre and post-BMT to assess children's behavior, parental perceptions of behavior, family coping, and parental health status. Results of multivariate analyses indicated that children in the BMT group reported significantly higher levels of depression and anxiety and lower levels of self-competence than children in the community group prior to the transplant {dollar}(F(4,\\ 35)=7.83,\\ p>.001){dollar} but not at 14 days post-transplant {dollar}(p>.05).{dollar} No gender effects were found, however older children reported significantly higher depression scores than younger children {dollar}(F(1,\\ 36)=4.90,\\ p

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