The effect of dispositional optimism on posttraumatic growth: Testing the moderator role of ways of coping between dispositional optimism and posttraumatic growth in Turkish breast cancer patients

The aim of the present study was to examine if coping strategies mediate dispositional optimism–posttraumatic growth relation in postoperative breast cancer patients. The data were collected from 90 patients in two hospitals. Regression analyses revealed that problem-focused coping fully mediated dispositional optimism–posttraumatic growth relation, but emotion-focused coping did not. That is, postoperative breast cancer patients who were optimistic were more likely to use problem-focused coping strategies that, in turn, led to the development of posttraumatic growth. The findings were congruent with the literature in which problem-focused coping was mostly highlighted as compared to emotion-focused coping, and in which optimism and problem-focused coping relationship was emphasized in the path of posttraumatic growth