AVOIDANT COPING IN CHILDREN WITH CANCER

Compared coping styles in children with cancer (n = 66) and a normativ e control group of healthy children (n = 414), using a newly designed instrument, the Children's Behavioral Style Scale (CBSS). We hypothesi zed that children in the oncology group would make greater use of an a voidant coping style (blunting) than controls. Results confirmed the p rimary hypothesis; children with cancer endorsed greater use of blunti ng or avoidant coping than did healthy children. A new conceptual mode l of coping style was introduced utilizing CBSS scores to identify chi ldren as Monitors, Blunters, Active, or Passive copers. Using this mod el, a similar proportion of Active and Passive copers were found in bo th groups, while the shift towards Blunting in the oncology group was accentuated, Within the oncology group, a positive relationship betwee n Blunting scores and time elapsed since diagnosis was observed, sugge sting that the increased Blunting in children with cancer is a reactiv e phenomenon, at least partly a response to the contingencies of cance r and its' treatment. These findings may provide an alternative interp retation to previous reports of increased defensiveness and repression in children with cancer.