Date of Conferral
2000
Date of Award
2000
Degree
Ph.D.
School
Psychology
Advisor
Stephen T. Lifrak
Abstract
This quantitative correlational study examined the role of approach coping and marital support in predicting psychosocial adjustment in 21 married women receiving chemotherapy for breast cancer. Psychosocial adjustment was assessed with the Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale, a measure of overall adjustment to illness. Approach coping was assessed with the Coping Responses Inventory, an inventory that measures coping strategies for dealing with a stressful event. Marital support was assessed with the Family Relationships Index, a measure of relationship functioning that focuses on the amount of togetherness, open communication, and conflict in the marriage. The independent variables of approach coping and marital adjustment were entered in a stepwise regression with psychosocial adjustment as the criterion variable. Results showed that approach coping and marital support explained a large portion of the variance in psychosocial adjustment. Further simple regressions showed that each of these variables explained a significant amount of the variance in psychosocial adjustment, with marital support being the stronger predictor. Taken together, these results indicate that those women who experienced greater marital support, and those who employed a higher percentage of approach coping strategies, had better psychosocial adjustment to their breast cancer. Results from Pearson correlations showed that approach coping and marital support are highly correlated with each other, indicating that those women who experienced greater marital support were more likely to have employed approach coping strategies. Additional simple regressions showed that a linear combination of cohesion, expressivity, and conflict explained a significant portion of the variance in psychosocial adjustment. Furthermore, each of thew variables alone were significant predictors of psychosocial adjustment, with cohesion being the strongest predictor. These results indicate that those women who perceived their spouses as helpful, and had marriages characterized by open, honest communication without angry verbal interaction, had better psychosocial adjustment to their breast cancer. Future researchers should identify factors known to promote adjustment, thus providing an empirical basis for intervention. Psychosocial interventions can then be tailored to focus on these specific variables to more effectively meet the needs of cancer patients.
