Psychosocial variables associated with husbands' adjustment three months following wives' diagnosis of breast cancer.

Background: Husbands of women with breast cancer may experience adjustment difficulties. We examined psychosocial predictors of husbands' adjustment to their wives' breast cancer 3 months following diagnosis.

Methods: Women (N = 45) with Stage I or II breast cancer who were 3 months postdiagnosis and their husbands completed measures of adjustment, coping, marital adjustment, and quality of life.

Husbands' perceptions of wives' adjustment to breast cancer: the impact on wives' mood.

Married women's adjustment to breast cancer is positively influenced by their husbands' emotional support and by both spouses' active coping strategies. However, little is known about how women's adjustment is related to their husbands' perceptions of their psychosocial impairment. The current study examined the relationships among wives' coping strategies, the extent of congruence between wives' and husbands' perceptions of wives' adjustment, and wives' mood disturbance in 45 women with Stage I or II breast cancer and their husbands.