Coping styles associated with psychological adjustment to advanced breast cancer

Health Psychol. 1996 Nov;15(6):434-7. doi: 10.1037//0278-6133.15.6.434.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine whether psychological adjustment to advanced breast cancer was positively associated with expressing emotion and adopting a fighting spirit and negatively associated with denial and fatalism. Total mood disturbance on the Profile of Mood States was used as the measure of psychological adjustment. The Courtauld Emotional Control Scale measured emotional expression, and the Mental Adjustment to Cancer measured fighting spirit, denial, and fatalism. The sample included 101 women with a diagnosis of metastatic or recurrent breast cancer. Fighting spirit and emotional expressiveness were found to be associated with better adjustment. No association was found between mood disturbance and denial or fatalism. Because this was a cross-sectional study, no conclusions regarding a causal relationship between adjustment and emotional expressiveness or adjustment and fighting spirit were possible.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adaptation, Psychological*
  • Adult
  • Affect
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Attitude to Health*
  • Breast Neoplasms / psychology*
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Denial, Psychological
  • Emotions
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Internal-External Control
  • Middle Aged
  • Personality*
  • Regression Analysis
  • Severity of Illness Index
  • Surveys and Questionnaires