Are equity concerns important in the intimate relationship when one partner of a couple has cancer?

Guided by equity theory, the present study examined the balance of give-and-take in couples facing cancer. Healthy couples were included as a control group. Patients with cancer felt, as expected, more overbenefited in their relationship than did healthy people. Contrary to our expectation, their partners did not feel underbenefited; they felt as equitably treated as did healthy people. Moreover, perceived equity was related to quality of the relationship: all participants (patients, their partners, and healthy people) generally reported the lowest quality when they felt underbenefited in their relationship. Equity concerns were not equally important to all patients and partners, however. When the patient was seriously physically impaired, neither patients nor their partners were troubled any longer by feeling underbenefited.