Abstract
In considering well-being among survivors of life-threatening illnesses such as breast cancer, 2 important questions are whether there is continuity between initial adjustment and longer term adjustment and what role personality plays in long-term adjustment. In this research, a sample of 163 early stage breast cancer patients whose psychosocial adjustment was first assessed during the year after surgery completed the same measures 5-13 years after surgery. Initial reports of well-being were relatively strong predictors of follow-up well-being on the same measures. Initial optimism and marital status also predicted follow-up adjustment, even controlling for earlier adjustment, which exerted a substantial unique effect in multivariate analyses. In contrast, initial medical variables played virtually no predictive role. There is substantial continuity of subjective well-being across many years among survivors of breast cancer, rooted partly in personality and social connection.
Original language | English (US) |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 508-516 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Health Psychology |
Volume | 24 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 2005 |
Keywords
- Breast cancer
- Long-term survivors
- Optimism
- Personality
- Quality of life
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Psychiatry and Mental health
- Psychology(all)