Center for Biobehavioral Health, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH, USA.
Department of Psychology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA.
Psychooncology. 2018 Aug;27(8):1944-1949. doi: 10.1002/pon.4746. Epub 2018 May 16.
To extend the limited research on psychosexual development among childhood cancer survivors, by not only focusing on the prevalence and age of milestone attainment, but also survivors' attitudes toward the timing of reaching such milestones.
Adult survivors of childhood cancer (N = 90; M = 29.8, SD = 5.2), recruited from a US pediatric institution, completed online surveys indicating whether they had reached 5 milestones of psychosexual development (ie, first kiss, first boy-/girlfriend, first physical intimacy, sexual debut, first time in love), age at attainment, and perceptions about the timing (ie, right time, wished it had happened earlier, wished they had waited).
Almost all survivors had reached each milestone (≥90%), except for sexual debut (83.3%). Survivors reported their first kiss as the earliest milestone at age 14.6 (N = 82, 92%) and falling in love as the latest milestone at age 18.8 (N = 80; 90%). This timing did not differ by sex/cancer-specific factors. Most survivors (~60%) felt they reached each milestone at the right time. Compared with US normative data, both male and female survivors were less likely to have experienced their sexual debut and were approximately 1.5 years older at sexual debut. Nevertheless, 59% of survivors felt that this timing was right and 31% wished they had waited longer.
This is the first study to demonstrate that although childhood cancer survivors may delay some aspects of psychosexual development, most are satisfied with this timing. Research and clinical practice should emphasize survivors' perceptions/satisfaction toward psychosexual development rather than focusing only on normative milestone attainment.
通过不仅关注里程碑的发生率和达到年龄，而且关注幸存者对达到这些里程碑的时间的态度，扩展对儿童癌症幸存者心理性发展的有限研究。
招募了来自美国一家儿科机构的 90 名成年癌症幸存者（M=29.8，SD=5.2）完成了在线调查，表明他们是否已经达到了 5 个心理性发展里程碑（即初吻、初恋、第一次身体亲密接触、性初次体验、第一次恋爱）、达到的年龄以及对时间的看法（即正确的时间、希望更早发生、希望他们等待更长时间）。
除了性初次体验（83.3%）外，几乎所有幸存者都达到了每个里程碑（≥90%）。幸存者报告他们的初吻最早在 14.6 岁（N=82，92%），而坠入爱河的最晚年龄是 18.8 岁（N=80；90%）。这种时间没有因性别/癌症特定因素而不同。大多数幸存者（~60%）认为他们达到每个里程碑的时间是正确的。与美国的正常数据相比，男性和女性幸存者发生性初次体验的可能性较小，初次体验的年龄约晚 1.5 岁。尽管如此，59%的幸存者认为这个时间是正确的，31%的人希望他们等待更长时间。
这是第一项研究表明，尽管儿童癌症幸存者可能会延迟某些心理性发展方面，但大多数人对这个时间感到满意。研究和临床实践应强调幸存者对心理性发展的看法/满意度，而不仅仅关注规范的里程碑的实现。
