Attributions, coping, and adjustment in children with cancer

Assessed the influence of children's attribution style, coping style, social competence, parent coping, and demographic variables on the psychosocial adjustment of 86 pediatric oncology patients. Utilizing hierarchical multiple regression procedures, nearly one half of the variance in child depression was predicted by children's avoidance coping, depressive attributional style, and social competence. Child anxiety was predicted by a depressive attributional style, avoidance coping, and age at diagnosis. Child externalizing behavior was predicted by a depressive attributional style, parents' anxiety and SES. Implications for interventions and future research are discussed.