| Chapter 1: | Introduction |
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Similarly, it was hypothesized that adolescents currently under treatment for cancer who endorsed a higher quality of close peer and dating relationships (i.e., higher levels of social support, lower levels of negative interactions, lower levels of dating anxiety and fear of intimacy) with their boyfriend/girlfriend, same-sex friend, and/or opposite-sex friend would be more likely to engage in healthy behaviors (e.g., good nutrition and physical activity) and less likely to engage in risky health behaviors (e.g., smoking, drinking, and drug use and unprotected sex). Taking into account the relative lack of empirical data on prevalence rates of health-related behaviors among adolescents with cancer, an exploratory investigation of the prevalence rates of such health-related behaviors among adolescents currently under treatment for cancer, including a comparison to U.S. healthy representative adolescent samples, as well as healthy adolescents in the states from which adolescents with cancer were recruited (i.e., Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Texas), was also undertaken.
To accomplish the stated aims of this study, a comprehensive review of the relevant literature will first be presented. This includes a review of the literature associated with the medical and clinical aspects (e.g., diagnosis, prognosis, course of treatment, and survival) of childhood cancer, followed by a review of the literature base examining psychological adjustment to childhood cancer. In particular, the focus will be on providing a review of the nature of social relationships in children and how a diagnosis of cancer can impact peer friendships and relationships. Moreover, a review of the extant, yet brief, literature on health-related behaviors among adolescents with cancer will be provided. Finally, the results of the current study will be presented.