Personality characteristics of patients with cancer compared with control group

Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of personality traits on cancer etiology and personality characteristics between types of cancer. Methods: Total 193 participants were included in the study comprising 50 women and 50 men with cancer who appealed to oncology units and policlinics, and 47 women and 46 men as the control group. They were examined based on their sociodemographic positions by considering their gender, age, education level, profession, marital status, family type, place of residence and income. To obtain the data in this study, the Hacettepe Personality Inventory(HKE) scores were used. The differences between the cancer and control groups based on the Hacettepe Personality Inventory(HKE) scores were examined by covariance analysis. To compare the demographic characteristics of the groups, either Simple Variance Analysis or Chi- Square test was used whenever appropriate. Results: A significant statistical difference was determined between cancer and control groups in regards to self realization(KG) and emotional stability(DK) which are the personal adjustment subscales of HKE (P <0.05). The KG and DK scores of the cancer group were lower than the control group. There was no significant statistical difference between the cancer group and the control group about the subscales of social cohesion (P>0.05). However, a significant difference was determined between the control group and the group with head-neck cancers in regards to self realization(KG), emotional stability(DK) and psychotic symptoms (PB) (P <0.05). The group with head-neck cancers had lower KG, DK and PB scores compared to the control group. No significant difference was found between lung cancer, breast cancer and the other groups. Conclusion: In this study that investigated the personality prone to cancer, using HKE our findings as a result of the data obtained from the group with cancer and the control group, even though weakly, supported the theory of cancer-prone personality in regards to KG and DK. Among the cancer types, the group with the head-neck cancer was different than the control group in respect to KG, DK and PB, however, there was no difference determined with other types of cancer (lung, breast and other group). KEYWORDS: Cancer, Personality, Personality traits