Does psychosocial stress exacerbate avoidant responses to cancer information in those who are afraid of cancer? A population-based survey among older adults in England

Figures & data

Table 1. Categorisation of the cancer fear items.

Table 2. Characteristics of the sample (N = 1258).

Characteristic	N (%)^a
Age (M, SD)	64.3 (3.7)
Gender
Male	639 (50.8)
Female	619 (49.2)
Ethnicity
White	1206 (95.9)
Black and minority ethnic	48 (3.8)
Missing	4 (.3)
Education
Some qualifications	831 (66.1)
No qualifications	378 (30.0)
Missing	49 (3.9)
Marital status
Married or living as married	831 (66.1)
Not married or living as married	427 (33.9)
Perceived stress (M, SD)	2.62 (1.35)
Cancer fear
None	337 (26.8)
Moderate	570 (45.3)
High	351 (27.9)
Cancer information avoidance (yes)
Reading stories about cancer	202 (16.1)
Watching TV programmes about cancer	241 (19.2)
Talking to others about cancer	104 (8.3)

^a Unless otherwise stated.

Table 3. Predictors of cancer information avoidance (N = 1258).

	Avoids one or more sources of cancer information	Unadjusted ordinal regression
	N (%)	OR (95% CI)
Age		1.01 (.97–1.04)
Gender
Male	156 (24.4)	REF
Female	147 (23.7)	.97 (.75–1.26)
Education
Any qualifications	168 (20.2)	REF
No qualifications	121 (32.0)	1.92 (1.47–2.52)
Missing	14 (28.6)	1.72 (.91–3.25)
Marital status
Married or living as	189 (22.7)	REF
Not married or living as	114 (26.7)	1.30 (1.00–1.70)
Perceived stress		1.17 (1.07–1.29)
Cancer fear
None	43 (12.8)	REF
Moderate	136 (23.9)	2.15 (1.49–3.12)
High	124 (35.3)	3.90 (2.65–5.73)

Abbreviations: OR = odds ratio; 95% CI = 95% confidence interval. Bold values significant at p < .05.

Figure 1. Percentage of respondents avoiding one or more sources of cancer information by level of cancer fear and perceived stress (N = 1258).