Psychological Functioning of Daughters of Breast Cancer Patients: Part I: Daughters and Comparison Subjects

Sixty daughters of mothers with breast cancer were matched for age, educational level, and race with 60 comparison subjects without a maternal history of breast cancer to assess the impact on psychological adjustment, coping, body image, sexual functioning, and health knowledge and practices of having had a mother with breast cancer. Daughters of breast cancer patients showed significantly less frequent sexual intercourse, lower sexual satisfaction, and greater feelings of vulnerability to breast cancer, and they could identify a greater number of symptoms of breast cancer. No differences between groups were found in psychological symptoms, coping styles, breast self-examination practices, mammography practices, health knowledge, or body-image ratings. Contrary to clinical studies, women at risk for breast cancer showed good overall coping with few signs of significant dysfunctions in relation to comparison subjects.