This study examined the psychological and behavioral correlates of three major coping strategies used by medically ill patients in dealing with their illness; namely, confrontation, avoidance, and acceptance-resignation. The subjects consisted of 223 male medical patients with a variety of life-threatening and chronic illnesses. Coping responses were measured by the Medical Coping Modes Questionnaire, while other variables were tapped by a variety of self-report and test measures, as well as by interview data. Significant correlates were found for each of the coping strategies accounting for 10 to 53% of the variance. These included demographic, illness, and psychological variables. Employment of acceptance-resignation as a coping strategy was particularly evident in patients with little expectation of recovery and a lack of hope. Effectiveness of coping appeared to be negatively linked to frequent use of avoidance and acceptance-resignation in life-threatened patients. Overall, it seems that a variety of variables across several domains accompany the use of a particular coping strategy; that choice of a specific strategy is most likely multidetermined; and that the configuration of variables associated with a particular strategy is likely to be different for each coping strategy. Coping behavior is a subtle, multifashioned expression the complete grasp of which demands an integrative approach.

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D OES THE MERE asking of questions motivate a respondent to form attitudes which were previously absent or to change the direction or intensity of extant attitudes? The answer to this question is important in many applications of the survey method, but particularly in panel surveys in which respondents are asked the same questions on two or more occasions (waves). If interview effects exist, they pose important ethical and methodological problems for survey researchers.If, under certain conditions, interviewing changes attitudes and the behavior they mediate, the survey researcher assumes the role of an agent, as well as a reporter, of social change. For example, in the course of studying racial or intergroup attitudes, the researcher may make certain issues salient or may polarize socially undesirable attitudes merely by asking race-related questions.Abstract To examine the effects of interviewing respondents were questioned about either cancer or burglary prevention in an interview, and later they received either relevant information or no information. Changes in attitudes were measured in a second interview, and the results showed that asking questions about cancer changed respondents' attitudes toward cancer, but interviewing about burglary prevention did not change attitudes toward crime. The evidence suggests that interview effects will occur when the respondent's attitudes and information are unfocused or ambiguous and the topic is important. Theoretically, this can be attributed to competence motivation and a postulated desire to maintain self-esteem in the interview situation.