Relationships Among Personality Traits, Anxiety, Depression, Hopelessness, and Quality of Life in Patients with Breast Cancer

Personality traits, anxiety, depression, and hopelessness negatively affect quality of life in women with breast cancer. However, the contribution of each of these factors is not precisely determined. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the relationships among personality traits, anxiety, depression, hopelessness, and quality of life in patients with breast cancer.

In this cross-sectional study, 180 women with breast cancer (90 patients and 90 healthy individuals) were recruited from Imam Reza and Tabatabaee hospitals in Tabriz. Data were collected using the Beck Hopelessness Scale, Beck Anxiety Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory, and Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) (with acceptable validity and reliability). T tests and Pearson’s correlation coefficients were used for data analysis, and P < 0.05 was considered significant.

Quality of life was negatively correlated with neuroticism, depression, despair, and anxiety and positively correlated with extroversion. Also, there was a positive correlation between neuroticism and depression, hopelessness, and anxiety, while other personality traits were negatively correlated with depression, hopelessness, and anxiety.

Anxiety, depression, and hopelessness reduce quality of life of patients with advanced cancer. Patients with extraversion have less anxiety and depression, which leads to a better quality of life, while more nervous patients may show signs of anxiety and depression and low quality of life.