1North Shore University Hospital-NYU School of Medicine New York, New York .... sexual abuse either by child protective
Journal of Traumatic Stress. VoL 11. No. 2, 1998
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Family Functioning in Adolescent Cancer David Pelcovitz,1,2 Barbara Goldenberg Libov,1 Francine Mandel,1 Sandra Kaplan,1 Mark Weinblatt,1 and Aliza Septimus1
Twenty three adolescents with a history of cancer, 27 physically abused adolescents, and 23 healthy, nonabused adolescents were administered structured posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) interviews and self-report questionnaires regarding family functioning. Thirty five percent of adolescent cancer subjects met criteria for lifetime PTSD as compared to only 7% of the abused adolescents: 17% of the cancer subjects and 11% of the abuse subjects met criteria for current PTSD. Adolescents with cancer viewed their mothers and fathers as significantly more caring and more protective than the comparison and abused adolescents. Cancer subjects who met criteria for lifetime PTSD say their families as significantly more chaotic than those who did not have PTSD. Eighty three percent of cancer subjects who had lifetime PTSD also had mothers who had PTSD. KEY WORDS: adolescence: cancer; posttraumatic stress disorder.
This study presents the results of an investigation of the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in a sample of adolescents with a history of cancer. In addition, the association between PTSD symptoms in the adolescents and family functioning is investigated. Unlike victims of other major stressors such as violence or natural disaster, the child faced with a life-threatening illness has to deal with a trauma that is chronic in nature. One can easily view childhood cancer and its treatment as one of the most traumatic events that a child and his/her family can endure. In 1North Shore University Hospital-NYU 2To whom correspondence should be
School of Medicine New York, New York 14853. addressed at the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, North Shore University Hospital, 300 Community Drive, Manhasset, New York 11030.
