On the Prevalence of Causal Search in Illness Situations

The prevalence of causal search was examined in two samples, one of chronically ill patients, the other of acutely ill patients. In contrast to the assumption that causal search occurs in important or unexpected life events, the results indicated that such a search was reported by only about half of 296 long-term diabetic, hypertensive, and arthritic patients and 83 newly diagnosed myocardial infarction patients. Moreover, in both samples, affect and expectancies for the future were better for those who had not engaged in causal search. Further research to examine the questions used to elicit causal responses and to test the assumption that causal thinking takes place is suggested.