1976; Lindsey, Norbeck, Carrieri, & Perry, 1981; Wortman,

1984). It has been postulated that social support may have

a buffering function, that it might influence the occurrence

of a stressful event, that it may affect the initial

appraisal of the event, or that it may alter coping or

adaptation.

 The methodology and findings of several studies

concerned with psychosocial variables and the progression of

disease are particularly relevant to this study. These

include studies of attitudes and emotional expression

assessed at or around the time of the cancer diagnosis and

investigations that made similar assessments of patients

with terminal cancer.

 The relationship between psychosocial variables and

survival from cancer was the focus of a report (Stavraky et

al., 1968). The survival of patients with various types of

cancer was studied by comparing subjects ( N = 204) in least

favorable and most favorable outcome groups to control

groups with the same stage of disease. An attempt was also

made to control for age, sex, and social class. These

authors reported that the group with the most favorable

outcome differed from all others in its high proportion of

individuals who had strong hostile drives without loss of

emotional control.