title: Personality, Coping, and Well-Being for People Living with Chronic Hepatitis C.
abstract: The present study examined the relationships between personality, coping strategies, and health ratings to extend past research to people living with chronic hepatitis C (HCV). Participants were 35 people (11 men, 24 women; M age = 49.6 yr., SD = 10.6) living with chronic hepatitis C for an average of 9.0 yr. (SD = 6.0) since diagnosis. Participants provided descriptions of stressful situations and responded to a personality inventory, Ways of Coping Questionnaire scales (planful problem solving and escape-avoidance) and SF36 Health Survey scales measuring physical functioning and mental health. The stressful situations were judgmentally clustered into seven dimensions (diagnosis/mortality, disclosure, stigma, social and work role functioning, compounding problems, and no stress). Correlational analyses indicated strong negative relationships between escape-avoidance coping and health measures. Emotional Stability and Extraversion were positively related to both health variables, and Extraversion was negatively related to escape-avoidance coping. The results suggest that research from other contexts that has examined these relationships tended to generalize to people living with HCV.
authors.affiliation: DePaul University, USA; Loyola University Medical Center, USA dcellar@depaul.edu.
authors.forename: Douglas F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Cellar
authors.affiliation: DePaul University, USA; Loyola University Medical Center, USA.
authors.forename: Devon
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Voster
authors.affiliation: DePaul University, USA; Loyola University Medical Center, USA.
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fetters
authors.affiliation: DePaul University, USA; Loyola University Medical Center, USA.
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Twitchell
authors.affiliation: DePaul University, USA; Loyola University Medical Center, USA; University of Michigan, USA.
authors.forename: Gary W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Harper
authors.affiliation: DePaul University, USA; Loyola University Medical Center, USA.
authors.forename: Cotler
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Scott
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010551:Personality
keywords: coping; hepatitis C; personality; well-being