Profiles of Connectedness: Processes of Resilience and Growth in Children With Cancer

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Identified patterns of connectedness in youth with cancer and demographically similar healthy peers. METHOD: Participants included 153 youth with a history of cancer and 101 youth without a history of serious illness (8-19 years). Children completed measures of connectedness, posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), and benefit-finding. Parents also reported on children's PTSS. RESULTS: Latent profile analysis revealed four profiles: high connectedness (45%), low connectedness (6%), connectedness primarily to parents (40%), and connectedness primarily to peers (9%). These profiles did not differ by history of cancer. However, profiles differed on PTSS and benefit-finding. Children highly connected across domains displayed the lowest PTSS and highest benefit-finding, while those with the lowest connectedness had the highest PTSS, with moderate PTSS and benefit-finding for the parent and peer profiles. CONCLUSION: Children with cancer demonstrate patterns of connectedness similar to their healthy peers. Findings support connectedness as a possible mechanism facilitating resilience and growth.