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Lack of marital support and poor psychological responses in male cancer patients

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Abstract

A total of 272 men and 252 women with cancer participated in a study of the impact of being married and the presence of spousal support on psychological distress and coping with cancer. All participants underwent a structured interview and completed the Profile of Mood States and the Mental Adjustment to Cancer scale. Multivariate analysis controlling for potentially confounding biomedical and psychosocial variables revealed that unmarried men had significantly higher levels of psychological distress and lower levels of fighting spirit than married men, and that men with spousal support showed higher levels of fighting spirit than men without spousal support. However, no such difference was observed between unmarried and married women or between women with and without spousal support. These findings suggest that being married may play an important role in reducing psychological distress and enhancing fighting spirit of men with cancer, and that being unmarried may be a risk factor for psychological distress and lower fighting spirit for men with cancer.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Satoshi Sasaki, MD, PhD, of the National Institute of Health and Nutrition for his helpful advice on the statistical analyses, and would like to acknowledge the collaborative support of the physicians and nursing staff of the National Cancer Center Hospital East.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psycho-Oncology Division, National Cancer Center Research Institute East, Kashiwanoha 6-5-1, Kashiwa, 277-8577, Chiba, Japan

    Koji Taniguchi, Tatsuo Akechi, Shimako Suzuki & Yosuke Uchitomi

  2. Psychiatry Division, National Cancer Center Hospital East, Kashiwanoha 6-5-1, Kashiwa, 277-8577, Chiba, Japan

    Tatsuo Akechi & Yosuke Uchitomi

  3. Department of Dermatology, Tottori University School of Medicine, Nishimachi 86, Yonago, 683-8503, Tottori, Japan

    Koji Taniguchi & Motoyuki Mihara

Authors
  1. Koji Taniguchi
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  2. Tatsuo Akechi
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  3. Shimako Suzuki
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  4. Motoyuki Mihara
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  5. Yosuke Uchitomi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yosuke Uchitomi.

Additional information

This work was supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid for Cancer Research and Second-term Comprehensive 10-year Strategy for Cancer Control from the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare. Koji Taniguchi and Shimako Suzuki are awardees of Research Fellowships from the Foundation for Promotion of Cancer Research in Japan.

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Taniguchi, K., Akechi, T., Suzuki, S. et al. Lack of marital support and poor psychological responses in male cancer patients. Support Care Cancer 11, 604–610 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-003-0495-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-003-0495-z

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