Estrategias de Afrontamiento, Regulación Emocional y Funcionamiento Psicológico Positivo en Adolescentes con Cáncer: un estudio exploratorio en Uruguay

Objective: To examine differences in coping strategies, emotion regulation, and positive psychological functioning between adolescents with cancer and adolescents without a cancer diagnosis. Method: An observational, cross-sectional, exploratory, comparative study was conducted. Participants were 216 Uruguayan adolescents aged 12–18 years (M = 15.5): 33 undergoing active cancer treatment and 183 without a cancer diagnosis. The Brief-COPE, the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (ERQ-CA), and the Positive Psychological Functioning Scale (FPP) were administered. Between-group comparisons were performed using the Mann–Whitney U test, with Holm correction applied to 21 comparisons. Results: None of the 21 dimensions assessed showed statistically significant between-group differences after Holm correction. Before adjustment, differences were observed in acceptance (p = 0.008), optimism/enjoyment (p = 0.012), environmental mastery (p = 0.020), self-esteem (p = 0.022), emotional support (p = 0.040), and behavioral disengagement (p = 0.043). Effect sizes were small or very small (r = 0.00–0.18). Overall Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were 0.920 for the FPP, 0.809 for the Brief-COPE, and 0.706 for the ERQ-CA, although some dimensions showed low internal consistency. Conclusions: In this exploratory sample, no statistically significant between-group differences were detected after adjustment for multiple comparisons. This finding does not demonstrate equivalence or the absence of differences. The findings do not establish whether cancer preserves or impairs specific dimensions of psychological functioning and should be further examined through longitudinal studies with larger clinical samples.