Overprotective Parents

Overprotective Parents

Introduction

Functional somatic symptoms (FSS) are commonly experienced by children and adolescents. The most prevalent FSS in children and adolescents are pain, fatigue and gastrointestinal problems (Perquin et al., 2000;Saps et al., 2009;ter Wolbeek et al., 2006). It is clear that FSS are the outcome of a multifactorial process: cognitive, social, and biological factors have been found to play a role. Among the social factors that have been suggested to contribute to the development of FSS in children and adolescents are parental behaviors. Several studies suggested that protecting children too much may ultimately result in worse health outcomes. Parental overprotection has found to be significantly associated with FSS in children and adolescents in cross-sectional studies (Mullick, 2002;Wynick et al., 1997). Retrospective studies in adults also suggested a role of maternal overprotection during childhood in developing FSS in adult life (Fisher and Chalder, 2003;Pogromov et al., 2005).

Discussion

Most likely, the association between parental overprotection and FSS is not similar to all adolescents but influenced by a wide range of factors, among which parents' own FSS and the duration and nature of the symptoms (Whitehead et al., 1994). In this study, we focused on two potential modifiers: the sex of the child and the parent. Girls often have closer relationships with their parents than boys, especially with their mothers (Shearer et al., 2005). Furthermore, girls have been found to report more parental sympathy and encouragement of their illness behavior than boys and to be allowed more relief from responsibility during illness than boys (Walker and Zeman, 1992). Not only may the sex of the child, but also that of the parent influence associations between parental overprotection and FSS. However, a retrospective study in adults found that both maternal and paternal overprotection during childhood was equally associated with psychological disorders (Overbeek et al., 2007).

Children and adolescents also experience illness uncertainty concerning the symptoms and treatments of their condition, the possibility of illness recurrence, and their ability to engage in daily activities (Greenberg & Meadows, 1991; Hasse & Rostad, 1994). Similar to the adult literature, studies demonstrate that increased child uncertainty is significantly associated with increased depressive symptoms in adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes (Hoff et al., 2002) and children with JRA (White, Chaney, & Mullins, 2005), as well as anxious symptoms (Hommel, Chaney, Wagner, White, Hoff & Mullins, 2003) and global psychological distress in adolescents and young adults with asthma (Mullins, Chaney, Pace, & Hartman, 1997). In addition, child illness uncertainty has also been found to moderate the relationship between global parent psychological distress and child-reported depressive symptoms among children with rheumatic disease (White et al., 2005). Collectively, these findings indicate that children with chronic conditions indeed experience illness uncertainty and, moreover, that perceptions of illness uncertainty may be a critical cognitive factor that can place children at increased risk for experiencing psychological distress. In light of the role that parenting variables may play in facilitating the development of illness uncertainty, the current study aimed to study these potential ...