Confiding in crisis: Gender differences in pattern of confiding among cancer patients

doi:10.1016/0277-9536(94)00411-L

Social Science & Medicine

Volume 41, Issue 9, November 1995, Pages 1255-1260

https://doi.org/10.1016/0277-9536(94)00411-L Get rights and content

Abstract

Social support has been identified as a key predictor of psychological morbidity following adverse life-events. However, the majority of the research has focused exclusively on women, despite evidence of significant gender difference in the utilisation and role of social support. To examine gender differences in patterns of confiding crisis, 520 subjects were interviewed within 8 weeks of a cancer diagnosis. Men were as likely as women to have confided their main concern in others (61% mainly or fully confided vs 67% of women, P = 0.308) but were much more likely to have used only one confidante (45% vs 25% of women, P < 0.001) while women made use of a wider circle of family, friends and partner and used more confidantes overall. The results confirm marked gender differences in the utilisation of social support at times of crisis and call into question the extent to which support research using exclusively female samples can be generalized.

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^∗: Current address: Royal Preston Hospital, Preston, England.

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Confiding in crisis: Gender differences in pattern of confiding among cancer patients

Abstract

Soc. Sci. Med.

Soc. Sci. Med.

Soc. Sci. Med.

Soc. Sci. Med.

The buffer theory of social support: a review of the literature

Psychol. Med.

Social support as a moderator of life stress

Psychomatic Med.

The stress buffering hypothesis of social support: problems and prospects for systematic review

J. Nerv. Mental Dis.

Social Origins of Depression: a Study of Psychiatric Disorder in Women

Social factors and affective disorder: an investigation of Brown and Harris's model

Br. J. Psychiat.

The social causation of depression: a critique of the work of Brown and colleagues

Psychol. Med.

Life-events and social support in puerperal depression

Br. J. Psychiat.

Social origins of depression in old age

Br. J. Psychiat.

Social support, self-esteem and depression

Psychol. Med.

Preventative intervention with the recently bereaved

Arch. Gen. Psychiat.

Coping, locus of control, social support and combat related post traumatic stress disorder

J. Personality Soc. Psychol.

Neurosis and social bonds in an urban population

Australian New Zealand J. Psychiat.

Neurosis and the Social Environment

Sociodemographic association with social disablement in a community sample

Soc. Psychiat.

Social support and coping: a longitudinal analysis

Am. J. Commun. Psychiat.