The mediating effect of social support on uncertainty in illness and quality of life of female cancer survivors: a cross-sectional study

Table 4 Differences in quality of life according to demographic and illness-related characteristics. (N = 148)

Variable	Category	quality of life
Variable	Category	Mean	SD	t or F	p- value
Age (years)	Below 40	67.78	16.92	0.256	.857
	40–49	68.02	20.27
	50–59	65.85	17.56
	60 and over	64.08	22.28
Marital status	Married	66.67	19.25	0.170	.844
	Single	67.87	20.75
	Widowed or divorced	65.43	14.75
Education	Less than high school	68.06	20.31	0.563	.574
Education	University and higher	65.94	21.50
Religion	No	64.82	20.65	−0.896	.372
Religion	Yes	67.95	20.18
Having a job	No	65.35	21.79	1.845	.162
	Loss of job	61.33	22.55
	Yes	69.65	18.22
Satisfaction with economic status	Satisfaction ^a	78.70	17.73	6.648	.002
	Average ^b	69.29	19.38		a, b > c
	Dissatisfaction ^c	56.32	20.61
Number of children	No or 1	60.80	21.66	1.726	.182
	2	68.24	19.82
	3 and over	69.22	19.26
Smoking status	Current smoker	57.29	32.26	−0.906	.394
Smoking status	Non-smoker	67.73	19.28
Drinking status	Current drinker	67.00	20.88	0.015	.988
Drinking status	Non-drinker	66.94	20.28
Type of cancer	Breast cancer	69.84	20.16	0.114	.267
Type of cancer	Thyroid cancer	65.71	20.36
Stage of cancer	Early-stage cancer	68.33	18.91	0.822	.413
Stage of cancer	Advanced stage cancer	65.28	23.48
Time since completion of cancer treatment (years)	Less than 1	67.72	21.91	0.307	.736
	1–5	64.52	16.94
	5 or more	65.97	13.51

ISSN: 1477-7525