THE ROLE OF FAMILY PROCESSES AND COPING STRATEGIES IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PARENTAL CHRONIC ILLNESS AND CHILDHOOD INTERNALIZING PROBLEMS

Sixty-nine families (father, mother, and one child) in which the fathe r had hemophilia, approximately half of whom were HIV positive, were a ssessed in an examination of the relationship between parental chronic illness, family functioning, child coping strategies, and child adjus tment. Latent variable path analyses with partial least-squares estima tion procedures (PLS) were used to test a model of the relationship be tween parental chronic illness, family process variables, child coping strategies, and child internalizing behavior problems. The severity o f the father's illness predicted family process variables, which predi cted the coping style of the child. The use of more avoidant coping st rategies was associated with more internalizing problems.