Cancer, acute stress disorder, and repressive coping.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between repressive coping style and Acute Stress Disorder (ASD) in a sample of cancer patients. A total of 112 cancer patients recently diagnosed with cancer participated in the study. ASD was assessed by the Stanford Acute Stress Reaction Questionnaire, and repressive coping was assessed by a combination of scores from the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, and the Bendig version of the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale. Significantly fewer patients classified as "repressors" were diagnosed with ASD compared to patients classified as "non-repressors". However, further investigations revealed that the lower incidence of ASD in repressors apparently was caused by a low score on anxiety and not by an interaction effect between anxiety and defensiveness. Future studies have to investigate whether different psychological mechanisms are responsible for the lower incidence of ASD in repressors and true low-anxious patients.
Pedersen
Anette Fischer
AF
Psychooncology Research Unit, University of Aarhus and Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus C, Denmark. anettefp@psy.au.dk
Zachariae
Robert
R
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D012094:Repression, Psychology; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000523:psychology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D040701:Stress Disorders, Traumatic, Acute / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D001749:Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*