A Multiple Goals Perspective on Topic Avoidance and Relationship Satisfaction in the Context of Breast Cancer

Abstract

Using a multiple goals perspective on interpersonal communication as a theoretical framework, this study examined the circumstances under which topic avoidance might predict lower relationship satisfaction among women coping with breast cancer. Results gathered from questionnaire responses of women who had recently undergone treatment for breast cancer (N=140) indicated that the association between topic avoidance and relationship satisfaction was moderated by patients' own reasons for avoidance, and by perceptions of partners' reasons for avoidance. The findings of this study contribute to recent scholarship suggesting the importance of considering the motivations for and interpretations of topic avoidance in order to better understand how patterns of topic avoidance predict relational wellbeing.

Keywords:

• Topic Avoidance
• Satisfaction
• Marriage
• Cancer
• Coping

Acknowledgements

This study is part of the first author's doctoral dissertation, completed under the direction of the second author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Erin Donovan-Kicken

Erin Donovan-Kicken (Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Texas at Austin

John P. Caughlin

John P. Caughlin (Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign