Attributions, vulnerability, and psychological adjustment: the case of breast cancer

This study examined the relationship between particular cognitions and psychological adjustment to breast cancer. It was hypothesized that adjustment would be positively associated with victims' perceptions of invulnerability to a recurrence of cancer and that victims' causal attributions for cancer would influence adjustment to the extent that the attributions contributed to or detracted from perceived invulnerability. A path model was developed based on the proposed association between invulnerability and adjustment, and attributions were tested for whether they directly or indirectly influenced adjustment. Responses from intensive interviews of 42 breast cancer victims were used to test the path model. Results strongly supported the hypothesized positive association between perceived invulnerability and adjustment and showed that the relationships between specific attributions and adjustment were mediated by vulnerability beliefs.