“Still Stable after all This...?”: Temporal Comparison in Coping with Severe and Chronic Disease

• Published in: International journal of behavioral development Vol. 22; no. 2; pp. 339 - 355
• Main Authors: Klauer, Thomas, Ferring, Dieter, Filipp, Sigrun-Heide
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basingstoke SAGE Publications 01.06.1998; Taylor & Francis
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Illness and personality; Illness, stress and coping; Psychology and medicine; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Human; Sex; Coping; Malignant tumor; Time analysis; Age; Stress
• ISSN: 0165-0254; 1464-0651
• DOI: 10.1080/016502598384405

Temporal comparison theory is used as a conceptual framework for studying coping with life-threatening illness. Propositions derived from this theory were investigated in a questionnaire study on cancer patients (N = 100). Results reveal high rates of perceived change in the majority of the life domains included in the study, suggesting that consistency could not be maintained in most patients. Furthermore, a disproportion of perceived positive and negative life changes emerged, the latter being more prominent. Change perceptions were related to gender, age, and time elapsed since diagnosis. The relationships between positive and negative change on one hand and adjustment indicators on the other indicated that negative change correlated significantly whereas positive change was not associated with adjustment to illness.