Although optimism, social support, religiousness, and spirituality are important predictors of adjustment, rarely have studies examined these variables simultaneously. This study investigated whether optimism and social support mediated the relationship between religiousness and adjustment (distress and life satisfaction) and between spirituality and adjustment. Findings indicate that the relationship between intrinsic religiousness and life satisfaction and between prayer fulfillment and life satisfaction was mediated by optimism and social support. Furthermore, the relationship between religiousness and adjustment varied depending on how religiousness was operationalized and whether positive versus negative adjustment indicators were used. That is, intrinsic religiousness and prayer fulfillment were associated with greater life satisfaction, but extrinsic religiousness was not associated with life satisfaction. These findings were significant even after accounting for covariates (age, gender, ethnicity, social desirability). Results suggest religiousness and spirituality are related but distinct constructs and are associated with adjustment through factors such as social support and optimism.

Introduction The experience of cancer can be understood as a psychosocial transition, producing both positive and negative outcomes. Cognitive processing may facilitate psychological adjustment. Methods Fifty-five post-treatment, colorectal cancer survivors (M=65.9 years old; SD=12.7), an average of thirteen months post-diagnosis, were recruited from a state cancer registry and completed baseline and three-month questionnaires assessing dispositional (social desirability), cognitive processing (cognitive intrusions, cognitive rehearsal) and psychological adjustment variables (posttraumatic growth (PTG), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology, depression, anxiety, positive affectivity). Results PTSD symptomatology was positively associated with depression, anxiety and negatively associated with positive affectivity. In contrast, PTG scores were unrelated to PTSD symptomatology, depression, anxiety, and positive affectivity. In addition, PTG was independent of social desirability. Notably, after controlling for age at diagnosis and education, multiple regression analyses indicated cognitive processing (intrusions, rehearsal) was differentially predictive of psychological adjustment. Baseline cognitive intrusions predicted three-month PTSD symptomatology and there was a trend for baseline cognitive rehearsal predicting three-month PTG. Conclusions Additional research is needed to clarify the association between PTG and other indices of psychological adjustment, further delineate the nature of cognitive processing, and understand the trajectory of PTG over time for survivors with colorectal cancer.

Results demonstrated that multiple protective and risk factors contribute to the psychological well-being and distress of university students. Health promotion practitioners should adopt strategies that strengthen the personality characteristics and values associated with university students' psychological health.

Research suggests individuals possess multifaceted cognitive representations of various diseases. These illness representations consist of various beliefs, including causal attributions for the disease, and are believed to motivate, guide, and shape health-related behavior. As little research has examined factors associated with beliefs about cancer causation, the present study examined the relationship between personal and family history of cancer and beliefs about the causes and prevention of malignant disease. Data was obtained from 6369 adult respondents to the 2003 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS), a national population-based survey. Information about personal and family history of cancer and beliefs regarding cancer causation and prevention was obtained. Results showed both a personal and family history of cancer were associated with differences in beliefs about the causes of cancer. In general, a personal history of cancer was not significantly linked to causal attributions for cancer relative to those without a personal history. In contrast, a family history of cancer tended to increase the likelihood a respondent viewed a particular cause as increasing cancer risk. Thus, personal and vicarious experience with cancer had dramatically diverging influences on attributions of cancer causation, which may be due to differing self-protection motives. Results support the belief that illness representations, in this case the causal belief component, are influenced by both personal and vicarious experience with a disease and also suggest illness representations may influence receptivity to messages and interventions designed to increase appropriate cancer risk reduction behavior.

Background No research has examined how cancer diagnosis and treatment might alter information source preferences or opinions. Methods Data from 719 cancer survivors (CS group) and 2012 matched healthy controls (NCC group) regarding cancer-related information seeking behavior, preferences, and awareness from the population-based 2003 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) was examined. Results The CS group reported greater consumption of cancer-related information but the CS and NCC groups did not differ in information source use or preferences. The CS group was more confident of their ability to get cancer information, reported more trust in health care professionals and television as cancer information sources, but evaluated their recent cancer information seeking experiences more negatively than the NCC group. Awareness of cancer information resources was surprisingly low in both the CS and NCC groups. Conclusions Cancer diagnosis and treatment subtly alters cancer information seeking preferences and experience. However awareness and use of cancer information resources was relatively low regardless of personal history of cancer.