This study examined family psychological variables, specifically early parental death and subsequent cancer onset in adulthood. It was hypothesized that Cancer subjects would report higher levels of emotional closeness within their families of origin. The instruments used were the Personal Data Sheet, Weber-Breaux Family Well-Being Scale (FWBS), Life Experiences Survey (LES), and the Family Spatial Relations Inventory (FSRI). Hypotheses were tested using a sample of 84 adult women. Twenty-nine Cancer subjects were used along with two different control groups. One control group was an Illness/Non-Cancer group including 27 End Stage Renal Disease patients (Renal subjects). Twenty-eight Healthy/Normal women comprised the third control group. / Following the admission and collection of testing materials, the data were first scored and analyzed. Statistical analyses included Chi Square, Pearson Product-Moment correlation, analysis of variance and analysis of covariance. / Four hypotheses were examined: (1 & 2) Cancer subjects would have greater prevalence of parental death both prior to disease onset and in childhood than Healthy/Normals and (3 & 4) Cancer subjects would have greater prevalence of parental death both prior to disease onset and in childhood than Healthy/Normals where the parent-child relationship was characterized as emotionally close as determined by the FWBS and the FSRI. / Overall the obtained data do not support the hypotheses. Cancer subjects are not characterized by a greater frequency of parental death occurring either before diagnosis or before the subject turned ten years old. In addition, the factor of greater parent-child closeness during early childhood is not a discriminating variable. In fact, Cancer subjects reported higher levels than both control groups on all three FWBS subscales--indicating poorer family functioning. / The most significant difference observed concerned the Family Generated Chronic Anxiety subscale. Cancer subjects reported much higher levels of family anxiety during their childhood than both Renal subjects and Healthy/Normal subjects. This finding was reflected in the larger perimeter values in the FSRI for Cancer subjects. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-05, Section: B, page: 2194. / Major Professor: Mary W. Hicks. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1989.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_78012 |
| Contributors | Ackerman, Kenneth Albert., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 199 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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