Rationality, emotional expression and control: psychometric characteristics of a questionnaire for research in psycho-oncology.
In some studies rationality, anti-emotionality and the control of (negative) emotions were found to be psychological risk factors for cancer. In the present study instruments were developed in order to cross-validate the role of the 'rationality/anti-emotionality (RAE)'-concept and the 'emotional expression and control (EEC)'-concept. The psychometric characteristics of a RAE-scale and EEC-scales were investigated in 4302 healthy women attending a breast cancer screening programme in The Netherlands. Principal components analysis revealed three factors for the RAE-scale: (1) Rationality; (2) Emotionality; and (3) Understanding. The EEC-scales consist of three factors that indicate: (1) expression of emotions to oneself; (2) expression of emotions towards others; and (3) control of emotions. These RAE and EEC scales can be of importance in psycho-oncological research, especially when: (1) the more refined subscales are used; and (2) age of the subjects is taken into account.
Bleiker
E M
EM
Dept of Medical Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
van der Ploeg
H M
HM
Hendriks
J H
JH
Leer
J W
JW
Kleijn
W C
WC
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012307:Risk Factors