When one member of a couple is diagnosed with cancer, both members experience many physical, psychological, and relational changes. These changes are also dependent on several contextual factors including the type of cancer, whether an individual is the patient or partner of the patient with cancer, individual responses to cancer, and relationship dynamics. This dissertation investigated the links between cancer type, additional patient health stressors, role (i.e., patient versus spouse), and gender in 679 couples across four types of cancer: head or neck, lung, breast, and prostate cancer. I also investigated the potential for bidirectional associations between individual responses to cancer and relationship functioning as well as communication patterns as a mediator of the aforementioned association. Couples coping with head, neck, and lung cancer were the most distressed. Spouses experienced more relationship functioning difficulties than patients. There were no differences in couples where the patient was male versus female, a crucial contribution to the current literature. Psychological health and relationship satisfaction were bidirectionally associated. Findings are discussed within the context of cancer research as "moving target" of study.
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