Justice of give-and-take in the intimate relationship: When one partner ofa couple is diagnosed with cancer

This study examined to what extent couples facing cancer (N = 55) and healt hy couples (N = 74) perceived various distributions of give-and-take to be just or fair when occurring within a relationship of a cancer patient and h is or her partner. Participants read one of three versions of a bogus inter view with a couple facing cancer. In these scenarios, both partners were ei ther equally well-off in terms of give-and-take or one partner was better o ff than the other. In general, participants judged the equitable situation to be the fairest. Thus, even in a situation in which one partner of a coup le has cancer, people generally judge a relationship in which both partners mutually support each other to be the fairest. Only in extreme situations (i.e., if the patient were in a bad condition) did participants regard a di stribution according to need fairer than a distribution according to equity . Couples facing cancer and healthy couples did not differ in their judgmen ts. In addition, emotional responses to the scenarios were studied. Consist ent with equity theory, participants expected to feel most guilty in an ove rbenefited situation. In contrast with equity theory, however, participants did not expect to feel especially angry or sad in an underbenefited situat ion.