Holding back sharing concerns, dispositional emotional expressivity, perceived unsupportive responses and distress among women newly diagnosed with gynecological cancers.

OBJECTIVE: Little attention has been paid to the role of holding back sharing concerns in the psychological adaptation of women newly diagnosed with gynecological cancers. The goal of the present study was to evaluate the role of holding back concerns in psychosocial adjustment and quality of life, as well as a possible moderating role for emotional expressivity and perceived unsupportive responses from family and friends.
METHOD: Two hundred forty-four women diagnosed with gynecological cancer in the past 8 months completed measures of holding back, dispositional emotional expressivity, perceived unsupportive responses from family and friends, cancer-specific distress, depressive symptoms and quality of life.
RESULTS: Emotional expressivity moderated the association between holding back and cancer-specific distress and quality of life, but not depressive symptoms. Greater holding back was more strongly associated with higher levels of cancer-related distress among women who were more emotionally expressive than among women who were less expressive. Perceived unsupportive responses did not moderate the associations between holding back and psychosocial outcomes.
CONCLUSION: Holding back sharing concerns was more common in this patient population than other cancer populations. Dispositional expressivity played a role in how harmful holding back concerns was for women, while unsupportive responses from family and friends did not.