The impact of marital status and quality on family functioning in maternal chronic illness

Abstract

Married individuals tend to enjoy greater health and well-being than nonmarried. However, investigators disagree about whether this is related to the quality of the marriage or to participation in the socially accepted role of marriage. In the present study, we examined the roles of marital quality and marital status as predictors of the family's adjustment processes in the context of maternal chronic illness. We found that the family functioning of single women and unhappily married women was similar and that happily married women enjoyed higher levels of family functioning and family coping. Unhappily married women reported more illness demands, particularly on their time and energy, than did happily married or single women. We suggest it is the quality of the marital interaction, and not the role benefits of marriage, that facilitates family adjustment under conditions of maternal chronic illness.

Social networks, social support, and burden in relationships, and mortality after breast cancer diagnosis in the Life After Breast Cancer Epidemiology (LACE) Study

“…Though interventions designed to improve family relationship quality could impact breast cancer outcomes, women whose family relationships are of poor quality may also benefit from extrafamilial relationships. Poor quality family relationships may be related to poorer health outcomes[32, 33], and religious and community participation has generally been related to better health outcomes[34] and lower mortality[35–37]. …”

Parental Illness, Family Functioning, and Adolescent Well-Being: A Family Ecology Framework to Guide Research.

“…A greater number of studies have assessed aspects of family functioning, such as cohesion and conflict. In a series of interrelated studies of the families of women with either breast cancer, fibrocystic breast disease, or diabetes, family functioning was measured using self-report scales assessing family adaptability, cohesion, and/or the family's satisfaction with the quality of the family's interactions (Lewis et al, 1989(Lewis et al, , 1993Yates et al, 1995). These measures of family functioning were modestly related to illness severity, with some families at risk for low cohesion and increased conflict when the illness was more severe.…”

“…The ill parent's gender has seldom been studied as a moderator. Most studies sample ill parents of only one gender-usually mothers (e.g., Dura & Beck, 1988;Lewis et al, 1989Lewis et al, , 1993Yates et al, 1995). One study of cancer patients and their spouses (Compas et al, 1994) revealed that the perceived seriousness of the illness varied by the adult's gender and status as patient or (healthy) spouse: Women perceived the cancer as more stressful than men, as did spouses (vs. patients).…”

“…Perhaps because of convenience, most study a single parental illness in an effort to establish the association between illness severity and adjustment (e.g., Armistead, Tannenbaum, Forehand, Morse, & Morse, 2001; Compas et al, 1994; Compas, Worsham, Ey, & Howell, 1996; Dutra et al, 2000; Ell, Nishimoto, Mantell, & Hamovitch, 1988; Grant & Compas, 1995; Lewis, Hammond, & Woods, 1993; Murphy, Steers, & Dello Stritto, 2001; Rotheram-Borus & Stein, 1999; Steele, Forehand, & Armistead, 1997). Only a few studies have compared family functioning across different illnesses (e.g., Dura & Beck, 1988; Lewis, Woods, Hough, & Bensley, 1989; Stetz, Lewis, & Primomo, 1986; Yates, Bensley, Lalonde, Lewis, & Woods, 1995), compared physical versus mental illnesses (e.g., Anderson & Hammen, 1993; Hirsch, Moos, & Reischl, 1985; Johnson & Lobo, 2001; Mikail & von Baeyer, 1990; Pelton, Steele, Chance, Forehand, & the Family Health Project Research Group, 2001; Peters & Esses, 1985), or compared families with illness to families without known illness (e.g., Harris & Zakowski, 2003; Kotchick et al, 1997).…”

Grandparents of children with cancer: a controlled comparison of perceived family functioning

“…Demographic factors may also influence perceptions of family functioning. Age, marital status, and gender have previously been associated with perceived family functioning and wellbeing, albeit inconsistently, when a family member is diagnosed with cancer [17][18][19]. For example, a metaanalytic study found that mothers of children with cancer reported higher family conflict than controls, but this difference was not found for fathers [20].…”