ABSTRACT
Pediatric psychologists have long recognized the important role of environmental factors,
specifically those related to the family, in their influence on a child’s health and
behavioral outcome (Kazak, 1997). The role of families in pediatric practice is
exemplified by the attention devoted to family functioning in medical textbooks. A recent
edition of a popular medical oncology text noted:
The naturally worried parents through their vigilance tend to encourage
dependency, to overindulge or overprotect their child, and they find it difficult
to administer any discipline. (Hersh, Wiener, Figueroa, & Kunz, 1997, p. 1252).
