Relations with Children After Breast Cancer

Abstract

Interviews with 78 breast cancer patients were analyzed to document perceptions of changes in their relationships with their children. Although the majority of mother-child relationships were reported to stay strong or grow stronger following breast cancer, deterioration was evident in 12 percent of the relationships. Problems with children were more likely when the patients had a poor prognosis, more severe surgery, poorer psychological adjustment, and, to a lesser extent, more difficulty with radiation therapy or chemotherapy. The mothers' relationships with their daughters were at a significantly greater risk than were the relationships with their sons. Seventeen percent of the patients reported that their daughters were fearful, withdrawn, hostile, or rejecting; only 8 percent reported having problems with their sons. The fear of inheriting breast cancer and the mother's demands on the daughter for support were judged to be major contributing factors to the difficulties with adolescent and post-adolescent daughters.