Breast cancer remains one of the most prevalent types of cancer among women and one of the leading causes of cancer death in women. Mothers may serve as important role models for their daughters in the development of health attitudes and behaviors related to breast cancer risk, and communication between mothers and daughters may be a central process through which beliefs and behavior are transmitted. The proposed research is relevant to understanding and fostering the perceptions of risk, health behaviors, and quality of life of young women at risk for developing breast cancer.
The aims of the proposed research are to examine the psychological and interpersonal processes that predict daughters' beliefs, knowledge and behavior regarding this important health issue. By applying observational methods to assess communication between mothers and daughters regarding the topic of breast cancer and breast cancer risk, the role of the mother-daughter relationship in predicting daughters' beliefs, knowledge, and behavior will be examined. It is hypothesized that in the presence of positive communication, the relationship between mother and daughter health beliefs, knowledge, and behaviors will be positive; however, in the presence of negative communication these relationships will be negative; that is, it is expected that the quality of communication will moderate the relationship between mother and daughter beliefs, knowledge and behaviors. The role of daughters' age (adolescent versus young adult) will also be examined as a further potential moderator of the association between mother and daughter beliefs, knowledge and behaviors.
| Reed, Jon A (2008) Deciphering the melanoma interactome. J Cutan Pathol 35 Suppl 2:11-5 |
