Study: Children of Mothers With Breast Cancer Experience More Stress

Children of mothers who have breast cancer, or who are genetically at risk of breast cancer, may experience more psychological stress while growing up, according to researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center.

In addition to coping with having a parent or close relative affected by cancer, these children may focus to a greater extent on their own genetic health risk, according to the study published in Psycho-Oncology.

Researchers designed a study to explore conceptions of health, cancer risk and psychological adjustment among children in families with genetic risk factors for breast cancer. Twenty children of 15 mothers, 80 percent who previously were affected by breast/ovarian cancer, were given a self-report survey of their beliefs and opinions regarding cancer and genetic testing, stress and worry about cancer, and anxiety, depression, and behavior problems.

The children with more psychological distress symptoms did experience more frequent thoughts of becoming sick and great worry about cancer, the researchers said.

Other sources: Psycho-Oncology