It might also be an artifact due to the rather small sample of male participants in this experiment.
Do single people want to date a cancer survivor? A vignette study
Unfortunately, due to the small number of men, correlations between conditions could not be purposefully explored by gender as well. In addition, and different from the second experiment, most respondents wanted to learn about the cancer history at the first date as opposed to hearing about it after a couple of dates.
However, for both experiments, the more serious health condition no vs. Early disclosure seems more warranted when survivors are closer to diagnosis. In sum, these three experiments showed that ever-single and divorced people are as likely to be interested in a date with a cancer survivor as with someone without a cancer history, unless they are still in active follow-up. Survivors were also judged as more positively than other people e.
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Nevertheless, these positive traits did not make them more attractive as a potential partner. It might be that people are afraid of possible relapses, other long-term side effects, and the foresight of regular hospital visits. This is emphasized by the finding that widowed single people hardly showed any interest in a date with a cancer survivor. They probably did not want a chance to experience losing a loved one again.
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The advantages of our online experiments were in the design. Vignette studies are especially useful when it is difficult to experimentally manipulate sensitive topics [ 54 ]. In the dating-setting, people tend to uphold their own dating standards and preferences more so at a distance than face-to-face. Any critical attitudes or socially undesirable thoughts would have had more room in our design because the people who were judged were not physically present. This is supported by a study on ideal partner preferences which showed that these preferences are mostly upheld in an abstract context, such as reading about a potential partner online, and are less important when there is face-to-face contact [ 45 ].
However, more studies should focus on previously partnered and middle-aged people. This could shed more light on their motivation to date or not to date someone who has had cancer. Additionally, our student sample just started medical school and they may be more understanding and less anxious when meeting people who were or are facing a serious illness. Future studies should include a more representative sample of young adult single people.
Our limited subsamples of widowed 25 participated and divorced respondents can only represent a starting point for future studies. These groups may be specifically important for future research as cancer is more common among older adults. Their preferences and dating behaviors when finding a new partner with or without cancer might be of particular importance for future research and the clinical practice. Nevertheless, they may not be very active on dating websites and other forms of recruitment for studies may be explored.
In line with this, our experiments need replication as the latter two included young adults with a high educational level and overrepresented women.
Young people are not very likely to have personal experiences with peers who have had cancer, which may positively color their ideas about what it means to be a cancer survivor and its impact. Furthermore, we think more research attention is needed to gain insight into actually establishing and maintaining romantic relationships after cancer, beyond the phase of getting on a first date.
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Our experiments only touched upon initial liking and did not include any form of communication or how people would actually respond when survivors disclose their cancer history. It is advised for survivors to keep in mind that most people wanted this disclosure after some contact and initial interest arose, and not immediately at the first date or before meeting.
Actual responses might differ between chatting online and meeting face-to-face and talking about the cancer experience, which actually also gives the other person the opportunity to ask and clarify questions about the cancer experience [ 55 ]. It is possible that hearing about the actual challenges of having had cancer will invoke more fear or distancing in the dating partner.
Dating and relationships
The same holds true for the survivors as well: In line with such reasoning, partnered cancer survivors who receive loving, caring, and understanding responses from their spouse, show less depressive symptoms [ 56 ]. Receiving these positive responses when disclosing to a potential partner will probably have an important impact on whether the survivor wants to continue dating or not. Current cancer advocate campaigns now focus on successes of survivors, calling them heroes and emphasizing strength [ 32 , 33 ].
This may be reflected in the positive trait assessments of survivors we found. However, the reality of having survived cancer is more confronting. We believe future studies on finding a partner after cancer should focus on more sensitive topics such as lasting infertility or changed appearance , and the way survivors and their dating partners handle conversations about this.
Cancer survivors who completed treatment can expect the same success in finding a date than people without a cancer history, and can wait until after a few dates to disclose. Survivors who are still being regularly checked for disease activity, and somewhat older survivors who potentially date widowed people, could expect more hesitant reactions. They could also disclose their experience with cancer earlier, but not before the first in-person meeting. Reactions toward actual disclosure and risks for potential discontinuation of dating need to be explored in cancer survivors.
Future studies should focus on how survivors could best start a conversation about having had cancer when they are looking for a romantic partner. The authors wish to thank Ayleen Somers for facilitating the design of and data collection for experiment 1. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. Published online Mar Author information Article notes Copyright and License information Disclaimer. The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Received Dec 21; Accepted Feb This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Interaction effect between relationship history and health condition. The y-axis displays estimated mean values of interest in a date. Abstract Objective Qualitative studies indicated that cancer survivors may be worried about finding a partner in the future, but whether this concern is warranted is unknown. Conclusion and implications for cancer survivors Cancer survivors do not have to expect any more problems in finding a date than people without a cancer history, and can wait a few dates before disclosing. Introduction Finding a romantic partner is a central goal in life for most people and essential for well-being [ 1 , 2 ].
Interest in a cancer survivor among members of a dating website Many singles look for a potential date or partner online ever since dating websites became available [ 40 ]. Table 1 Descriptive statistics of respondents in all experiments. Open in a separate window. Table 2 Interest in dating in all experiments. Table 3 Correlations between interest in a date and assessed traits. Discussion Among members of a dating website, interest in dating a cancer survivor was lower than interest in a comparable person without a cancer history.
Interest in a cancer survivor among young adults Because members of a dating website are a diverse population when it comes to age and previous relationship status, we aimed to test our hypotheses in a more homogeneous group of young adult single people. Discussion Young adult single students were as interested in dating another student who was treated for cancer a few years earlier than someone without such an illness history. Interest in a date and phase of disease follow-up In the years following end of active treatment, people treated for cancer remain in follow-up.
Method Participants and design: Table 4 Assessment of traits in experiment 3. Discussion When students were presented with a cancer survivor as a potential dating partner, responses differed by disease trajectory i. Summary and overall discussion In sum, these three experiments showed that ever-single and divorced people are as likely to be interested in a date with a cancer survivor as with someone without a cancer history, unless they are still in active follow-up. Implications Cancer survivors who completed treatment can expect the same success in finding a date than people without a cancer history, and can wait until after a few dates to disclose.
Do single people want to date a cancer survivor? A vignette study
Supporting information S1 Dataset 7Z Click here for additional data file. S1 Fig Interaction effect between relationship history and health condition. TIF Click here for additional data file. Acknowledgments The authors wish to thank Ayleen Somers for facilitating the design of and data collection for experiment 1. Data Availability All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files.
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