Early warning signals in relationships between parents and young children with cystic fibrosis

Mothers and fathers with a child initially between 12 and 24 months of age participated in a yearlong study comparing families with a child with cysti c fibrosis (CF) with families with a healthy child. The families were video taped in interaction 3 times during the year, and parents twice answered qu estionnaires concerning their stress levels. Results showed that parents of children with CF were more controlling, more serious, and less encouraging in their interactions with their children. Children with CF gave fewer cle ar communications about their physical and emotional status, and they were more whiny and less reinforcing of their parents' efforts. Evidence also em erged that almost half of the parents of children with CF were denying or m inimizing stress-related problems pertaining to the child, to themselves, o r both.