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The father–daughter relationship in the wake of maternal death from breast cancer

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2017

Marie M. Cohen ,
David K. Wellisch ,
Sarah R. Ormseth Open the ORCID record for Sarah R. Ormseth [Opens in a new window]  and
Valerie G. Yarema
Marie M. Cohen
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, California
David K. Wellisch*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, California
Sarah R. Ormseth
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, California
Valerie G. Yarema
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, California
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: David K. Wellisch, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehaivoral Sciences, Semel Institute, 740 Westwood Plaza, Suite C8-849, Los Angeles, California 90024. E-mail: [email protected].
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Abstract

Objectives:

This paper examines whether a relationship exists between paternal psychological stability and daughters' symptomatology following the death of a wife/mother from breast cancer. Specifically, is there a relationship between paternal parenting style and the daughters' subsequent capacity to form committed relationships later in life?

Methods:

We assessed 68 adult daughters (average age = 23.5 years) since the mother's breast cancer diagnosis by means of a semistructured clinical interview and psychological testing.

Results:

The daughters were subdivided into three psychiatric risk groups. Those in the highest risk group were most likely to be single and to have high CES–Depression and STAI–Anxiety scores. Daughters in the highest risk group were also most likely to have fathers who abused substances, fathers who had experienced a serious psychiatric event, and families with the most closed communication about the mother's cancer.

Significance of Results:

Psychopathology in fathers correlated with increasing anxiety and depression in adult daughters. Daughters at the highest level of risk had the most severe affective states, the most disturbed father–daughter bonding, and the least ability to create successful interpersonal relationships as adults. We suggest specific interventions for these daughters of the lowest-functioning fathers.

Keywords

CancerPaternalPsychologicalStabilityDepression
Type
Original Article
Information
Palliative & Supportive Care , Volume 16 , Issue 6 , December 2018 , pp. 741 - 748
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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