Center for Biobehavioral Health, The Abigail Wexner Research Institute At Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH, USA.
Division of Hematology/Oncology/BMT, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH, USA.
Support Care Cancer. 2021 Nov;29(11):6661-6668. doi: 10.1007/s00520-021-06260-3. Epub 2021 May 7.
Young individuals face a variety of developmental tasks as they mature into adulthood. For survivors of childhood cancer, growing up may be more difficult due to their illness and late effects from treatment. This study is the first to quantitatively examine perceptions of maturity and how these perceptions contribute to satisfaction with life among young adult survivors of childhood cancer.
Ninety survivors of childhood cancer (M = 29.8; 7-37 years post-diagnosis) were recruited to complete online surveys on how mature they felt relative to peers, their perceived maturity on three domains (financial, personal, social), and life satisfaction.
Most survivors (62%; n = 56) felt they grew up faster than their peers, and over half (56%; n = 50) felt more mature. Perceived maturity was high on all three domains, but brain tumor survivors reported significantly lower maturity than other survivors (d = 0.76-1.11). All maturity domains were positively associated with life satisfaction (r = .49-.56). Hierarchical linear regressions indicated that 44% of the variance in life satisfaction was explained by perceptions of growing up slower (β = - 1.08, p = .004) and marginally by greater perceived personal maturity (β = 0.45, p = .061).
Childhood cancer can influence development, with most survivors feeling that they grew up faster and were more mature than peers. Personal maturity was related to life satisfaction, with survivors of brain tumors or those who felt they grew up slower at greatest risk for lower life satisfaction. Future research and clinical practice should consider survivors' development and maturation across the life span to promote overall well-being.
年轻人在成长为成年人的过程中面临着各种发展任务。对于儿童癌症幸存者来说，由于疾病和治疗的后期影响，成长可能更加困难。本研究首次定量研究了对成熟的看法，以及这些看法如何影响儿童癌症后青年幸存者对生活的满意度。
招募了 90 名儿童癌症幸存者（M=29.8；诊断后 7-37 年）完成在线调查，了解他们相对于同龄人感到的成熟程度、他们在三个领域（财务、个人、社会）的感知成熟程度以及生活满意度。
大多数幸存者（62%；n=56）认为他们比同龄人成长得更快，超过一半（56%；n=50）认为自己更成熟。在所有三个领域，感知成熟度都很高，但脑肿瘤幸存者的成熟度明显低于其他幸存者（d=0.76-1.11）。所有成熟度维度都与生活满意度呈正相关（r=0.49-0.56）。分层线性回归表明，生活满意度的 44%由感知成长较慢（β=-1.08，p=0.004）和感知个人成熟度更高（β=0.45，p=0.061）解释。
儿童癌症会影响发育，大多数幸存者认为他们比同龄人成长得更快，更成熟。个人成熟度与生活满意度相关，脑肿瘤幸存者或那些认为自己成长较慢的幸存者生活满意度较低的风险最大。未来的研究和临床实践应考虑幸存者在整个生命周期的发展和成熟情况，以促进整体幸福感。
