Social support, social conflict, and adjustment among adolescents with cancer

Objective: Evaluate support and conflict in close relationships of adolesce nts in active medical treatment for cancer. Family and friend perceptions o f supportive and conflictual behaviors were examined in relation to psychol ogical distress, taking into account the impact of functional impairment in duced by the illness. Methods: Using self-report questionnaires, 50 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 20 years rated the frequency of supportive and conflictual intera ctions with parents, siblings and best friends. Results: Results indicated that perceived maternal conflict was associated with psychological distress. Conflict with fathers, siblings, and best frie nds was not associated with distress. Supportive aspects of close relations hips did not predict psychological distress. The amount of physical impairm ent accounted for the most variance in distress, contributing between 35% a nd 38% of the variance. Conclusions: Results suggest that mother-adolescent conflict would be an ap propriate target for psychosocial interventions.