Attachment and general well-being in breast cancer patients: Mediation of body esteem and social support

This study aimed to explore the mediation of body esteem and social support in the relationship between attachment and general well-being in breast cancer patients. We collected data from 150 women with breast cancer and 150 healthy women. Employing bootstrap analysis with 5 000 samples using the ordinary least squares regression, we found that higher attachment avoidance was significantly associated with lower general well-being in both the breast cancer patients and healthy comparison peers. Also, body esteem and social support were significantly associated with attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance and general well-being. Furthermore, body esteem significantly mediated the relationship between attachment avoidance and well-being in breast cancer patients directly through social support; while social support significantly mediated the relationship between attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance and well-being in breast cancer women directly by body esteem. Therefore, body esteem and social support played a chain intermediary role between attachment avoidance and well-being. These findings suggest a need for breast cancer support programmes for women to enhance their body esteem and sense of social support in the context of their recovery efforts.