title: Men's psychological functioning in the context of women's breast cancer.
abstract: Previous research indicates that men are affected when their female partners have breast cancer. However, little is known about what predicts men's psychological well-being in this context. The current investigation involved couples in which the woman had early stage breast cancer and explored the degree to which men's positive and negative well-being was related to women's well-being, women's physical symptoms, relationship functioning, and relationship duration. The findings indicate that all of these factors play a role and interact in predicting men's well-being. In particular, when women have a high level of physical symptoms, the typical associations between men's well-being with women's well-being and relationship adjustment no longer persist. Implications for working with couples addressing health problems are provided.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA. don_baucom@unc.edu
authors.forename: Donald H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Baucom
authors.forename: Jennifer S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Kirby
authors.forename: Nicole D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Pukay-Martin
authors.forename: Laura S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Porter
authors.forename: Steffany J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Fredman
authors.forename: Tina M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Gremore
authors.forename: Francis J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Keefe
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Atkins
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008571:Men / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012747:Sexual Partners / Q000523:psychology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D014930:Women / Q000523:psychology