Cancer causes relationship changes.

• Position: Research on terminally ill and their familial relationships - Your Life

When cancer strikes a spouse, the effects of the disease reach far beyond the body of the sick person. "In general, the longer people are married, the less love they express to each other," indicates Clifford Swensen, professor of psychological science, Purdue University, who has completed a three-year study of the relationships of terminally ill cancer patients with their families. "But I found that in older couples, when one of them becomes seriously ill with cancer, their expression of love increases, while commitment to each other goes down."

The expression of love was measured using a scale he developed several years ago. It examines six dimensions of a relationship: verbal expression of affection; the self-disclosure of thoughts and feelings; toleration of a loved one's bothersome aspects; moral support and encouragement; unexpressed feelings; and material evidence of affection, such as gift giving.

"What we found ... was that the expression of love increases in all areas of the scale, particularly in more talking, moral support and encouragement, and self-disclosure. ... When the long-term married couples in the study realized that their commitment was coming to an end, they began preparing for the separation. Even though they reported an increase in the value of the...