No Such Thing as ‘Cancer Personality’
6/6/2003 Sendai, Japan Daniel DeNoon Personality Types Unrelated to Risk of Developing Cancer When it comes to cancer, it doesn't matter how outgoing, emotional, aggressive, or conformist you are. Your personality doesn't affect your risk of cancer, a new study suggests. Some -- but by no means all -- earlier studies have found links between cancer and certain personality types. These included being extroverted, having a "type 1" personality, and lacking emotion. These studies had various weaknesses. They tended to focus on small numbers of people. And they often failed to control for important cancer risk factors, such as smoking. Now, a research team led by Yoshitaka Tsubono, MD, of Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan, has solved those problems. The researchers gave personality tests to 30,277 people living in northern Japan. Seven years later, they looked at who got cancer and who didn't. Four Personality Traits Tsubono's team used a test called the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. It uses four measures to analyze personality: *Extroversion-Introversion. Extroverts are very social people. They have lots of friends and must talk with other people a lot. They like excitement, take risks, and act on the spur of the moment. Introverts are quite and studious. They plan ahead, don't easily lose their tempers, and value ethical standards. *Neuroticism. People with high "N" scores tend to be very emotional and overactive. They have trouble calming down. They complain about vague physical problems and tend to be worried, anxious, and irritated. *Psychoticism (Tough-Mindedness). People with high "P" [...]