two parts. The first part pertains to the methods used to

determine the expected survival of individuals with cancer of

the lung, breast, and rectocolon. The second part pertains

to the psychosocial analysis of the patients interviewed.

This part includes the methods used to determine relative

survival from expected survival and the methods used to test

the six hypotheses.


 Research Questions and Hypotheses

 The relationship between psychosocial variables and

survival was considered in four initial research questions.

Two questions specifically dealt with the correlations

between psychosocial variables and survival. The third

concerned the proportion of variability in survival that

could be accounted for by a set of psychosocial variables.

The fourth question was intended to further clarify the

contribution of disease variables to differences in survival.

It had to do with the combined effects of a set of

psychosocial variables and concurrent physical conditions

other than the cancer. This disease variable was called

"co-morbidity."

 The four research questions were stated as follows:

 1. What psychosocial variables are positively

correlated with survival?

 2. What psychosocial variables are negatively

correlated with survival?