title: Serious illness, coping, and quality of life
title: the roles of personality and sense of control
titleType: Subtitle
Creators: name: Lemke, Amy L.
Publisher: name: University of Iowa
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Coping
subject: Personality
subject: Sense of Control
subject: Serious Illness
subject: public abstract
subject: Quality of Life
subject: Psychology
subject: FOS: Psychology

description: Prior research indicates that coping resources (i.e., personality traits and perceptions of personal control) alter the coping strategies utilized by seriously ill individuals and, ultimately, their quality of life (QOL) perceptions. However, none of the previous research has considered the potential moderating effect of sense of control on the relationship between personality traits and style of coping. Additionally, sense of control has not been considered as a confounding influence of the relationship between coping style and seriously ill individuals’ perceptions of QOL. Using data from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS), this cross-sectional study examined the complex relationships among coping resources (i.e., personality traits and sense of control), coping styles (i.e., problem- and emotion-focused coping), and the QOL perceptions among a national sample of 333 seriously ill individuals living in the United States. It builds on the literature on coping in the context of serious illness by examining 1) the associations between personalities and seriously ill individuals’ style of coping, including the potential moderating effect of sense of control on the above relationships; and 2) the association between style of coping and QOL perceptions of seriously ill individuals as well as the potential mediating role of sense of control as the explanatory mechanism within the relationship.
description: Findings indicate that among seriously ill individuals, those who scored higher on personality traits of conscientiousness and openness to experienced used significantly more problem-focused coping. Problem-focused coping was also more frequently used when individuals had higher perceptions of control. Sense of control moderated the relationships between conscientiousness and neuroticism and utilization of problem-focused coping strategies. Concerning emotion-focused coping, neuroticism was the only personality trait that was significantly associated with increased use of emotion-focused coping. Sense of control did not moderate the relationships between any personality trait and the use of emotion-focused coping.
description: Regarding the second research question, problem-focused coping had significant positive relationships with both sense of control as well as QOL perceptions. Whereas emotion-focused coping demonstrated significant negative relationships with both perceptions of personal control as well as QOL. The findings suggested that sense of control fully mediates the relationships between coping style and QOL among individuals with serious illnesses.
description: Future studies examining the relationships between coping resources, strategies, and perceptions of QOL using a more culturally diverse sample are warranted, particularly in relation to the interactive effects of sense of control among individuals with neurotic personality traits. Additional insights related to factors interacting with openness personality trait to increase its utilization of adaptive coping responses would serve to expand the evidence. The current study’s findings also identify a potential point of interaction to enhance seriously ill individual’s sense of QOL. Through a comprehensive assessment of a seriously ill individuals’ coping resources, interventions targeting their perceptions of personal control can be initiated.