Sense of control and adjustment to breast cancer: The importance of balancing control coping styles

The relationship of modes of control and desire for control to psychosocial adjustment in women with breast cancer was examined. Fifty-eight women wit h stage I or stage II breast cancer were surveyed shortly after their diagn osis and again 4 and 8 months later The authors hypothesized that a control profile in which individuals use a positive yielding (ie, accepting) mode of control in conjunction with an assertive mode results in better adjustme nt than relying exclusively or primarily on an assertive mode. Results lend preliminary support to this hypothesis. At 8-month follow-up, those women who had a high desire for control and were low in positive yielding control showed the poorest adjustment, whereas those high in desire and the positi ve yielding mode showed the best psychosocial adjustment. The findings sugg est that balanced we of active and yielding control efforts may lead to opt imal psychosocial adjustment and quality of life in the face of life-threat ening illnesses.