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Putting it off: family breast cancer history and women's retirement planning
Author(s) -
Zick Cathleen D.,
Mayer Robert N.,
Smith Ken R.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
psycho‐oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.41
H-Index - 137
eISSN - 1099-1611
pISSN - 1057-9249
DOI - 10.1002/pon.3759
Subject(s) - breast cancer , stressor , family history , logistic regression , psychology , sister , test (biology) , focus group , gerontology , cancer , clinical psychology , demography , medicine , sociology , paleontology , anthropology , biology
Objective Cancer diagnoses have significant consequences that extend beyond the individual to family members. Our research builds on prior research by examining how a family history of breast cancer is related to women's retirement preparations. Methods Taking guidance from the stress process model, we generate and test hypotheses using multivariate logistic regression and unique data on retirement planning and familial cancer histories for 467 women. We supplement this analysis with the qualitative findings from two focus groups. Results We find consistent evidence that women with a mother and/or sister who had a breast cancer diagnosis are significantly less likely to engage in retirement preparation activities than otherwise similar women with no family history. The same effect is not observed when other first‐degree relatives have different cancer diagnoses. The face validity of these quantitative findings is confirmed by the focus group analysis. Conclusions Our research suggests that the stressors experienced by close female relatives of women who have had breast cancer may lead to behaviors and attitudes that have consequences for their post‐retirement quality of life. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.