The relationship between cancer fatalism and education

Purpose Fatalism is defined by feelings of pessimism, hopelessness, and powerlessness regarding cancer outcomes. Early researchers reported associations between race and cancer fatalism. Yet current evidence suggests that social determinants of health are better predictors of cancer fatalism than race. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the association between age, race, education, and cancer fatalism. Methods Three hundred ninety ( n = 390) women who attended a screening mammogram at the Joanne Knight Breast Health Center at Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis, MO) completed the Powe Fatalism Inventory (PFI), a 15-item self-report instrument used to operationalize cancer fatalism. We used Pearson’s correlation, independent samples t -tests, one-way ANOVA with post hoc tests, and linear regression to analyze the relationships between PFI total scores and age, race, and education. Results There were no differences between the mean PFI scores for Non-Hispanic Whites (1.89, SD 0.55) and African Americans (2.02, SD 0.76, p = 0.092, 95% CI 0.27 to 0.02). We found significant differences between the mean PFI scores across levels of education. Women who attained a high school degree or less ( n = 72) reported higher PFI scores (2.24, SD 0.77) than women who attended some college or post-high school vocational training ( n = 111; 1.95, SD 0.61) and women with a college or postgraduate degree ( n = 206; 1.83, SD 0.57). When PFI score was regressed onto age, race, and education, only education significantly explained fatalism (B = −0.19, p