[Adolescents and young adults with cancer between adaptation and addiction: state of the question]

Abstract

The purpose of this literature review is to make a point on the state of health of adolescents and young adults (15-25 years) suffering from cancer. The adaptation strategies and the impact of the announcement of cancer will be discussed. In addition, we are going to consider the characteristics of teenagers and young adults, given the fact that development is still in progress. This period is especially punctuated by various experiments and the emergence of some clinical signs. Also, we have identified various studies concerning the use of licit and illicit substances. Furthermore, we have taken interest in behavioral addictions, particularly cyber addiction. While trying to cross these variables with a population of teenagers and young adults in the context of somatic diseases, it occurred that this population was not well known and studied. The interest of this synthesis is to underline the importance to make future researches in these perspectives.

Keywords: Addiction comportementale; Adolescents; Behavioral addiction; Cancer; Consommation de substances; Coping; Jeunes adultes; Stratégies d’adaptation; Substance use; Young adults.