Interpersonal repression as a predictor of cancer

Personality Typology in Patients with Traumatic Limb Fractures

The notion that personality impacts health is not new. According to Grossarth-Maticek and Eysenck’s theoretical approach, the main factor for health is the ability for self-regulation, which seems to moderate the effects of some physical risk factors.

The aim of this study was to evaluate personality characteristics of patients hospitalized for traumatic limb’s fractures which have been operatively treated. To our knowledge, it is the first study of this type in the region.

The evaluated sample comprises two groups of examinees: patients hospitalized at the Traumatology Clinic for surgery after fractured limbs (N=30) and healthy people (N=120) as control, previously examined. Two psychometric tests were used: Grossarth-Maticek questionnaire and Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ).

Obtained results showed that the personality characteristics of patients with traumatic limb fractures belong generally to the “healthy type 4” of Grossarth-Maticek typology, similarly as the control. It correlates to the low N (neuroticism) and moderate E (extraversion) scales in the Eysenck typology.

We showed that gender and age highly influence the scores obtained from the questionnaire.

The type of personality could influence reactions in life situations, coping with stress and consequently to be a trigger for any disorder, even traumatic fractures

The relationships of a rationality/antiemotionality personality scale to mortalities of cancer and cardiovascular disease in a community population in Japan

OBJECTIVE

Grossarth-Maticek et al. reported that an individual's level on a rationality/antiemotionality (R/A) personality was strongly predictive of cancer, ischemic heart disease and stroke mortality. To investigate the relationships of an individual's level on the R/A personality to cancer and cardiovascular disease mortality in Japan, we conducted a population-based cohort study.

METHOD

A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 36990 Japanese residents in September 1992. The response rate was 90.3%. Data from 13226 males and 14880 females were analyzed. Dates and causes of death through December 31, 1999 were obtained for deceased participants.

RESULTS

The results from multivariate hazard ratios (HRs) revealed that males scoring in the middle level compared to those scoring in the lower level of the R/A personality scale decreased their risk of death from cancer and cardiovascular diseases after controlling for covariates.

CONCLUSIONS

The level on the R/A personality scale may affect mortality from cancer and cardiovascular diseases differently in Japan.

Mind and cancer. do psychological factors cause cancer?

We have reviewed the evidence for an association between major life events, depression and personality factors and the risk for cancer. We identified and included only those prospective or retrospective studies in which the psychological variable was collected independently of the outcome. The evidence failed to support the hypothesis that major life events are a risk factor for cancer. The evidence was inconsistent for both depression and personality factors. Chance, bias or confounding may explain this result, as many of the studies had methodological weaknesses. The generally weak associations found, the inconsistency of the results, the unresolved underlying biological mechanism and equivocal findings of dose-response relationships prevent a conclusion that psychological factors are established risk factors. However, certain intriguing findings warrant further studies, which must, however, be well conducted and large and include detailed information on confounders.

Construct validity of repression: a dimensional analysis

This study explored the construct validity of repression through an examination of the interrelations among indicators identified in previous research as being associated with the construct. Three behavioral tasks, i.e., dichotic listening task, recall of past events task, and Stroop task, modified in accordance with previous research to tap into repressive tendencies, and one questionnaire (Byrne Repression-Sensitization Scale) were administered to a sample of 62 university undergraduates. A series of correlational analyses provided weak to moderate support for the construct validity of repression.

Rationality/antiemotionality personality and selected chronic diseases in a community population in Japan

OBJECTIVE

To clarify the relationships of the rationality/antiemotionality (R/A) personality with past histories of seven chronic diseases and current smoking habits in a community population in Japan.

METHODS

A questionnaire survey was conducted of all residents aged 35 years old or over (n = 37,287) in Takayama city, Gifu prefecture, Japan; the response rate was 90.3%. Data from 13,091 males and 14,061 females who completed all relevant questions were analyzed. The subjects were asked to complete an 11-item R/A personality scale developed by Grossarth-Maticek et al. (1985). Past histories of seven major chronic diseases and current smoking habit were also asked in the questionnaire.

RESULTS

Among males, the R/A scale score was significantly lower in those who had stroke, diabetes or allergy than in those who did not. Among females, the R/A scale score was significantly lower in those who had stroke, allergy or stomach cancer than in those who did not. Among females, current smokers had significantly lower R/A scores than non-smokers. After controlling for age, smoking and drinking, the R/A score was significantly and negatively associated with stroke among males and females; it was significantly and negatively associated with diabetes and allergy among males.

CONCLUSION

Our findings are contrary to those observed in Yugoslavia and West Germany, and suggest a cultural difference in the relationship between the R/A personality and disease occurrence.

Person variables and health: personality predispositions and acute psychological states as shared determinants for disease

This article reviews prospective evidence linking certain classes of person variables to multiple disease end points. Included in the review is a consideration of the effects of hostility and anger, emotional suppression, depression, fatalism, and pessimism on coronary heart disease, cancer, and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. A model is presented that integrates several of these variables into an overall conceptual scheme. In addition, several variables are identified that appear to moderate the strength of the relationships that are found between person variables and health. The article concludes with some suggested directions for future research.

Emotional expression in cancer onset and progression

Despite the intensive biomedical research in oncology since World War II, recent studies show a steady increase in age-adjusted mortality for all kinds of cancer. This findings gives impetus to the efforts of researchers who have adopted the biopsychosocial model. Systematic research using such a model has shown several psychosocial factors to be associated with cancer onset and progression, and Temoshok has recently suggested a theoretical model which unifies these findings. In this paper, I consider the evidence that one of these psychosocial factors, emotional expression, may be directly involved in cancer onset and progression. I review 18 relevant studies, discuss how one might operationalize the term 'emotional expression', and make 12 suggestions for future research.

The relationship of psychosocial factors to prognostic indicators in cutaneous malignant melanoma

This study investigated the relationship between prognosis (estimated by histopathologic indicators) in cutaneous malignant melanoma and a comprehensive set of physical risk, demographic, psychosocial, and situational variables. These variables were derived from the medical examination, the pathology report, psychosocial self-report measures, and an hour-long videotaped interview with 59 patients from two melanoma clinics in San Francisco. Variables significantly correlated with tumor thickness were: darker skin/hair/eye coloring, longer patient delay in seeking medical attention, two correlated dimensions within an operationally defined 'Type C' constellation of characteristics, two character style measures, and less previous knowledge of melanoma and understanding of its treatment. Of these variables, delay was the most significant in a hierarchical multiple regression analysis in which tumor thickness was the dependent variable. Associations between tumor thickness and psychosocial measures of Type C were considerably stronger and more significant for subjects less than age 55, suggesting that the role of behavioral and psychosocial factors in the course of malignant melanoma is more potent for younger than for older subjects.

Repressive coping reactions in patients with malignant melanoma as compared to cardiovascular disease patients

Previous research has indicated that repressive styles of coping with stressful emotions may be associated with higher cancer incidence and poorer prognosis. Other studies have suggested that coronary-prone and cancer-prone individuals may be at opposite poles on the distributions of several coping and personality variables. In order to investigate whether these differences could be reflected in a measure that integrated psychological and physiological processes, the present study compared the repressive coping reactions of malignant melanoma patients to matched cardiovascular disease patients and disease-free controls (N of 20 in each group). Repressive coping reactions were operationally defined as the discrepancy between reported anxiety and that shown physiologically (electrodermal activity) in response to anxiety-provoking statements in an experimental procedure. The concurrent validity of this procedure was established through correlations with other indices of repressive tendencies which were administered to all subjects. Analysis of variance showed that the melanoma group was significantly more 'repressed' on these measures, while the cardiovascular disease patients were the least repressed or most sensitized. These differences in defensive posture were independent of disease severity, which suggested that they were not merely artifacts of differences in disease-related anxiety.

Social factors in the etiology of chronic disease: an overview

Our intention in this introductory article is to emphasize what we consider to be certain critical points in the current state of research into the social epidemiology of chronic disease. As will be outlined, these critical points need to be considered in future research. To begin with we provide a mild critique of research in this area which has had its tradition specified by social epidemiology, a term which has recently come into favor to describe research concerned with social factors in the etiology of chronic disease. Next we briefly summarize critical available evidence on an etiological relationship between social factors and cardiovascular disease, cancer and multiple disease outcomes. Following this a major emphasis will be placed on issues which directly relate to problems of methodology in social factors assessment. Finally, an emphasis will be given to the critical question of mechanisms which need to be clarified in this type of multivariate research.