Abstract
ObjectiveThe goal of this study is to establish the differences in Type D personality and Big five personality traits between a group of newly diagnosed breast cancer patients and a group of controls.MethodsA comparative study of breast cancer patients and women without previous history of cancer was carried out. We used Type D Scale-14 as an instrument for the assessment of the type-D personality pattern and NEO-FFI for the assessment of the Big Five personality traits. Conditional logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were applied for breast cancer by personality trait factors.ResultsNegative affectivity (NA) (OR = 4.45 95% CI: 1.96–10.61), neuroticism HIGH (OR = 3.97, 95% CI: 1.08–15.81), openness to experience HIGH (OR = 3.47 95% CI: 1.11–11.49), were associated factors significantly related to an increased risk of breast cancer, whereas Social Inhibition (SI) was associated factor with a decreased risk of breast cancer (OR = 0.40 95% CI: 0.16–0.92).ConclusionsThis was the first case-control study which analyzed NA and SI traits in breast cancer patients. SI as a breast-cancer risk decreasing factor might indicate that expressing negative emotions is not always a healthy mechanism of their regulation.
Highlights
The relationship between cancer and personality causes strong controversy, indirectly leading to posing the question of whether cancer is a psychosomatic disease
Of the 100 participants in the comparison group recruited in the study, only women with no missing data for all the variables considered in the analysis were included
The present analysis was conducted on 178 subjects (99 with breast cancer and 79 non-exposed)
Summary
The relationship between cancer and personality causes strong controversy, indirectly leading to posing the question of whether cancer is a psychosomatic disease. The research of Greer and Morris on a group of women with breast cancer defined the behavior pattern later named Type C behavior [1, 2], referred to as Type C (cancer-prone) personality [3]. The research of Rymarczyk et al proposed a two-facet structure of Type C which is composed of submissiveness and restricted affectivity [4]. Submissiveness (the interpersonal aspect) in this context is understood as compliance, kindness, uncritical adjustment to others, dependence, inability to refuse, sacrificing oneself for others. Restricted affectivity (the interpersonal aspect) manifests itself in the repression and suppression of negative emotions, low awareness of experienced emotions, passiveness, and helplessness
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