Posttraumatic Growth and Health-related Quality of Life in a Racially Diverse Cohort of Breast Cancer Survivors

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between race, religiosity, and posttraumatic growth as well as the association between growth and physical and mental health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in breast cancer survivors (N = 802; M age = 57.2). Multivariate analyses revealed that African American breast cancer survivors reported higher levels of posttraumatic growth than White women. However, this relationship was mediated by religiosity. We found an inverse association with growth and mental HRQOL which might be explained by the fact that growth co-occurs with distress and perhaps women in this sample are still struggling with their disease. Copyright © 2010 SAGE Publications.