Key Predictors of Problem Behavior in Children of Parents With a Chronic Medical Condition in Malaysia.

Abstract

Research has shown that children, particularly adolescents, of parents with a chronic medical condition often display more behavioral problems than other children. However, research on parents with chronic illness rarely includes a comparison group (with a non-chronically ill parent) limiting the power to draw conclusions about specific characteristics of children with a chronically ill parent. And, the research is limited to Western samples. This raises the question, do these children have more behavior problems than children of healthy parents? And, what specific factors pertaining to child characteristics are most likely to be associated with these behaviors? While studies in the US and Europe have shown, no known studies assessing whether children of chronically ill parents differ from norm groups in problem behavior were found conducted in Asia or using samples from an Asian population. The scarcity of research on this topic in Asia suggests cultural aspects have not been considered. Sieh et al,(2012) pointed out that samples limited to subjects from a Western culture cannot be generalized to a non-Western population and that there is benefit in investigating the role of cultural values such as filial piety in any predictive model of children's behavior. Therefore, a subsidiary question is whether filial piety, an important East Asian value which imparts a strong sense of obligation to care for one’s parents, is a moderating influence.