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The effects of dyadic coping and marital satisfaction on posttraumatic growth among breast cancer couples

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Abstract

Objectives

To examine the dyadic relationships of dyadic coping, marital satisfaction, and posttraumatic growth and to confirm the mediating effect of marital satisfaction between dyadic coping and posttraumatic growth among breast cancer patients and their spouses.

Methods

A total of 206 pairs of female breast cancer patients and their spouses from one tertiary hospital in Guangzhou, China, from August 2018 to July 2019 were invited to complete the demographics and disease-related information questionnaire, the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, the Marital Adjustment Scale, and the Dyadic Coping Inventory.

Results

Patients’ and spouses’ positive/negative dyadic coping exerted actor effects and partner effects on marital satisfaction, while their marital satisfaction and positive dyadic coping only exerted actor effects on posttraumatic growth. In addition, the mediating effects of marital satisfaction on the impact of dyadic coping on posttraumatic growth were confirmed in both patients and spouses.

Conclusion

Our findings provide a new perspective on the relationships between dyadic coping, marital satisfaction, and posttraumatic growth at the individual and dyadic levels. Promoting positive dyadic coping and decreasing negative dyadic coping among breast cancer patients and spouses can improve their marital satisfaction and posttraumatic growth.

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Data availability

The data of this study can be available from the corresponding author.

Code availability

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Notes

  1. They are a little bit low, probably due to the small number of items of MAS. However, considering that the MAS has been widely used and that an alpha of 0.7~0.8 is believed acceptable [30], we still used the MAS as a measurement.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Number. 71974217) and the Graduate Innovative Education Program Foundation of Guangdong Province (Grant Number. 53000-18842214).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Rongfei Suo and Lijuan Zhang contributed equally to this work and should be considered co-first authors

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fifth Affiliated Hospital Sun Yat-Sen University, No. 52, Meihua East Road, Xiangzhou District, Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, People’s Republic of China

    Rongfei Suo, Hongmei Tao & Fenglian Ye

  2. School of Nursing, Sun Yat-Sen University, No. 74, Zhongshan II Road, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, People’s Republic of China

    Rongfei Suo & Jun Yan

  3. Cancer Center, Sun Yat-Sen University, No. 651, Dongfengdong Road, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, People’s Republic of China

    Lijuan Zhang

  4. Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-Sen University, No. 74, Zhongshan II Road, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, People’s Republic of China

    Yuening Zhang

Authors
  1. Rongfei Suo
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Contributions

All authors have made contributions to the conception of this study. Study design: RFS, LJZ, JY, HMT, FLY, and YNZ; data collection: RFS, LJZ, HMT, FLY, and YNZ; and manuscript preparation: RFS, LJZ, and JY.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jun Yan.

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The study was approved by the institution’s ethics committee (L2019ZSLYEC-001).

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All authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

All authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest or non-financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.

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Suo, R., Zhang, L., Tao, H. et al. The effects of dyadic coping and marital satisfaction on posttraumatic growth among breast cancer couples. Support Care Cancer 29, 5425–5433 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-021-06121-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-021-06121-z

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