Children Whose Parents Have Cancer Do Less Well at School

Children whose parents have had cancer are more likely to do badly at school and earn less than their peers, according to a new study published online in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.

A data linkage study of more than 1 million Danes also found that the more severe the cancer suffered the bigger the impact.

Researchers looked at data held on children born between January 1978 and December 1999, and measured their school performance, levels of educational attainment and disposable income by the age of 30.

Around 4-5 per cent of children had at least one parent who had been diagnosed with cancer that had a ‘good’ outcome. They were found to have achieved a lower grade final average than children whose parents had not had cancer, after influential factors such as parents’ educational attainment was taken into consideration. The researchers said that although the difference was ‘small’ it was still ‘statistically significant’.

But children whose parents had a ‘poor’chance of surviving five years post diagnosis, or had died of their disease was even lower.

The age of the child was also significant in the study, which found the older the child when their parent had cancer, or died of cancer, the better their educational outcome.

Children who were younger than five years when their parents were diagnosed were very ‘badly affected’ suggesting that that the impact of parents having cancer early on in their child’s life ‘may extend across the life course’.

The researchers say: “In a life course perspective, parental cancer in childhood could be considered as a potential early life stressor that may increase the health vulnerability to later life exposures, expanding the risk of later social disadvantage and poor adult health.”

They say these findings point towards the need to ensure that children are able to access appropriate support.

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