Psychosomatic symptoms in medical outpatients: An investigation of self-handicapping theory.
- 1 January 1991
- journal article
- Published by American Psychological Association (APA) in Health Psychology
- Vol. 10 (6) , 427-431
- https://doi.org/10.1037//0278-6133.10.6.427
Abstract
Investigated self-handicapping theory as it relates to somatization in medical patients. We predicted that medical outpatients (N = 113) would report psychosomatic symptoms in response to events that threaten their self-esteem. As predicted, results of hierarchical multiple regression indicated that high-perfectionism patients reported somatic symptoms positively related to the number of events that jeopardize their sense of accomplishment, whereas low-perfectionism patients' somatic symptoms were not related to these events (p = .005). Contrary to prediction, high-dependency patients did not differ significantly from low-dependency patients in the relationship of somatic symptoms and events that threatened their interpersonal relationships (p = .115). Implications of these findings and the utility of self-handicapping theory for predicting somatization in medical patients are discussed.Keywords
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