The association between psychological functioning and social support and social constraint after cancer diagnosis: a 30-day daily diary study

Jessica N. Rivera-Rivera, Christal L. Badour, Jessica L. Burris

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study evaluated one positive and one negative aspect of social functioning (social support and social constraint, respectively) to increase understanding of its relation to psychological functioning (distress and wellbeing) after cancer diagnosis. Participants in this longitudinal study were recently diagnosed, predominately late stage, first primary cancer survivors (n = 48). Data collection involved a 30-day period of daily assessment. Data were analyzed using multilevel linear models. As in prior studies, none of the variables changed significantly over time (ps =.07 to.99). Based on the intraclass correlation coefficient, 51 to 75% of the variance in the daily assessment data are attributable to between-person differences. There was a positive relationship between social constraint and both general and cancer-specific distress (ps <.05) and between social support and cancer-specific wellbeing (ps <.001). In prospective models, higher than average general distress predicted higher social support the next day (p =.004) and higher than average cancer-specific wellbeing predicted more social constraint the next day (p =.01). The findings lend some support to the interdependence of social functioning and psychological functioning after cancer diagnosis.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)355-367
Number of pages13
JournalJournal of Behavioral Medicine
Volume44
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC part of Springer Nature.

Keywords

  • Cancer
  • Daily diary
  • Distress
  • Social constraint
  • Social support
  • Wellbeing

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Psychology
  • Psychiatry and Mental health

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