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Personality as a predictor of coping efforts in patients with multiple sclerosis

Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, University of Tartu, Tartu 51014, Estonia

T Kallasmaa

Department of Psychology, University of Tartu, Tartu 50410, Estonia

A Pulver

Department of Psychology, University of Tartu, Tartu 50410, Estonia

K Gross-Paju

Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, University of Tartu, Tartu 51014, Estonia, Multiple Sclerosis Center, Estonian Seamen Hospital, Tallinn 10617, Estonia

The aim of the study was to explore personality traits as predictors of coping with disease-related distress in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). All patients with clinically definite MS in a city with a population of approximately 100 000 were asked to complete the NEO Personality Inventory and a multidimensional coping inventory (COPE). There was an 83% response rate yielding 49 patients for the study population and 49 controls, matched for age, gender and educational level to the MS-patients, were used as comparison. Only Neuroticism correlated significantly with emotion-focused coping in both groups. Extraversion and Openness to Experience were linked to task-oriented coping strategies in normal controls but not in the MS-group. Agreeableness was associated with avoidance-oriented coping strategies only in the MS-group. Thus, the relation of certain personality characteristics to the choice of strategies for coping with the disease-related distress appear to differ from coping with stressful problems in everyday life. As dispositional characteristics may interfere with adaptive coping responses, analysis of personality traits and coping strategies could contribute while attempting to relieve the consequences of chronic disease on everyday life.

Key Words: multiple sclerosis • chronic disease • stress • adjustment • coping • personality

Multiple Sclerosis, Vol. 6, No. 6, 397-402 (2000)
DOI: 10.1177/135245850000600607


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