ADJUSTMENT OF CHILDREN WITH NEWLY-DIAGNOSED CANCER - CROSS-INFORMANT VARIANCE

In recent years, more and more intensive treatment protocols have been initiated with the goal of improving long-term survival of pediatric cancer patients. Empirical evaluation of the psychological and social adjustment of the cohort of children with newly diagnosed cancer being treated with these modem regimens is essential to enhance quality of life. Inconsistencies in the literature on the ''average'' adjustment of children with cancer can be attributed to a number of methodologica l differences across studies. Assessment of physically healthy childre n's adjustment based on independently derived information from the chi ldren, parents, and teachers has consistently shown a lack of congruen ce among these three sources. This discordance or lack of agreement am ong reports of child adjustment was termed ''cross-informant variance' ' for the purposes of the present investigation. Cross-informant varia nce among child, parent, and teacher report measures has not been syst ematically investigated for pediatric cancer patients. Consistent with the general empirical literature on children, the results of the stud y generally demonstrated small to medium effect sizes (rs ranged from .10 to .50) across the three measures, indicating the need for cross-i nformant assessment to determine the quality of life of pediatric canc er patients more adequately.