When Mom or Dad Has Cancer: Markers of Psychological Distress in Cancer Patients, Spouses, and Children

This study assessed anxiety/depression and stress response symptoms in adult cancer patients (n = 117), spouses (n = 76), and their children (n = 110, ages 6 to 30 years old) near the patients' diagnoses to identify family members at risk for psychological maladjustment. Patients' and family members' distress was related to appraisals of the seriousness and stressfulness of the cancer but not related to objective characteristics of the disease. Patients and spouses did not differ in anxiety/depression or in stress-response symptoms. Both stress-response and anxiety/depression symptoms differed in children as a function of age, sex of child, and sex of patient. Adolescent girls whose mothers had cancer were the most significantly distressed. Implications for understanding the impact of cancer on the family are highlighted.