Does Marital Adjustment Mediate Type C Personality-Depressive Symptoms Relation? A Comparison between Breast Cancer Patients and Cancer-Free Women

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relation between Type C personality and depressive symptoms in breast cancer patients, and to examine if marital adjustment mediates this relation. The data was collected from 98 married breast cancer patients undergoing post-operative chemotherapy treatment. Also, 97 married cancer-free women were included in the study as the comparison group to test whether the proposed relationship is typical only to breast cancer patients. Regression analyses indicated that marital adjustment partially mediated Type C personality-depressive symptoms relation in breast cancer patients. However, this mediation was not found in cancer-free women. Findings of the study were discussed in relation to current literature and cultural context of Turkey.