Linguistic Markers of Emotions and Coping Stages in Narratives of Cancer Survivors

Authors

  • Su-Hie Ting Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
  • Faynella Freddy Universiti Malaysia Sarawak

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33736/tur.9087.2025

Keywords:

Linguistic marker, Emotional processes, Cognitive processes, Coping stages, Cancer narratives

Abstract

Linguistic markers in emotional disclosures have not been investigated to identify the stage of emotional adjustment to cancer. The study examined linguistic markers of emotions and coping stages in written narratives of cancer survivors. Using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) framework, 20 narratives with 18,287 words written by cancer survivors were collected from five cancer organisation websites, blogs and online magazines were analysed. The 50 most frequently used words in the cancer narratives appeared 1,153 times because some words were repeatedly used. There were more negative emotional processes (39.20%) than positive emotional processes (18.73%) or cognitive processes (21.16%). Most of the narratives contained words associated to denial, depression, and acceptance. Depression and acceptance were recurring in the cancer narratives. The depression stage was associated with negative emotions but the acceptance stage was associated with cognitive processes. The findings suggest that the decline in emotional words co-occurs with an increase in cognitive words from depression to acceptance, suggesting that cognitive mechanisms are utilised to cope with cancer.

References

Burns, V. 2017. Imperfectly moving towards acceptance. PLAID: People Living with And Inspired by Diabetes, 2(2), 12-17.

Cernvall, M., Carlbring, P., Ljungman, L., Ljungman, G., & von Essen, L. 2015. Internet-based guided self-help for parents of children on cancer treatment: A randomized controlled trial. Psycho-Oncology, 24(9), 1152-1158. DOI: 10.1002/pon.3788

Chen, M., & Zhao, L. (2021). Mapping breast cancer survivors’ psychosocial coping along disease trajectory: A language approach. Journal of Health Psychology, 26(13), 2563-2576. DOI: 10.1177/1359105320919893

Chou, W. Y., Hunt, Y., Augustson, E., & Folkers, A. 2011. Cancer survivorship in the age of YouTube and social media: A narrative analysis. Journal Medical Internet Research, 13(1), e7. DOI: 10.2196/jmir.1569

Croson, E., & Keim-Malpass, J. 2016. Grief and gracefulness regarding cancer experiences among young women. Oncology Nursing Forum, 43(6), 747-753. DOI: 10.1188/16.ONF.747-753

Falek, A., & Britton, S. 1974. Phases in coping: The hypothesis and its implications. Social Biology, 21(1), 1-7. DOI: 10.1080/19485565.1974.9988084

Freda, M. F., & Martino, M. L. (2015). Health and writing: Meaning-making processes in the narratives of parents of children with leukemia. Qualitative Health Research, 25(3), 348-359. DOI: 10.1177/1049732314551059

Freda, M. F., Esposito, G., & Quaranta, T. (2015). Promoting mentalization in clinical psychology at universities: A linguistic analysis of student accounts. Europe's Journal of Psychology, 11(1), 34-49. doi: 10.5964/ejop.v11i1.812

Gotay, C. C. (1984). The experience of cancer during early and advanced stages: The views of patients and their mates. Social Science & Medicine, 18(7), 605- 613. DOI: 10.1016/0277-9536(84)90076-5

Graves, A. W., Plasencia-Peinado, J., Deno, S. L., & Johnson, J. R. (2005). Formatively evaluating the reading progress of first-grade English learners in multiple-language classrooms. Remedial and Special Education, 26(4), 215-225. https://doi.org/10.1177/07419325050260040401

Günay, U., & Özkan, M. 2019. Emotions and coping methods of Turkish parents of children with cancer. Journal of Psychosocial Oncology, 37(3), 398-412. DOI: 10.1080/07347332.2018.1555197

Han, J. Y., Shaw, B. R., Hawkins, R. P., Pingree, S., McTavish, F., & Gustafson, D. H. 2008. Expressing positive emotions within online support groups by women with breast cancer. Journal of Health Psychology, 13(8), 1002-1007. doi: 10.1177/1359105308097963

Inci, H., Inci, F., Ersoy, S., Karatas, F., & Adahan, D. (2021). Self-esteem, metacognition, and coping strategies in cancer patients: a case–control study. Journal of Cancer Research and Therapeutics, 17(4), 956-962. DOI: 10.4103/jcrt.JCRT_618_19

Kahn, J. H., Tobin, R. M., Massey, A. E., & Anderson, J. A. (2007). Measuring emotional expression with the Linguistic Inquiry Word Count. The American Journal of Psychology, 120(2), 263-86. https://doi.org/10.2307/20445398

Kübler-Ross, E. 1969. On death and dying. Scribner.

Kübler-Ross, E., & Kessler, D. (2005). On grief and grieving: Finding the meaning of grief through the five stages of loss. Simon and Schuster.

Liaw, M. K. P., Ting, S. H., Chuah, K. M., & Jerome, C. (2022). Affective and cognitive processes in cancer narratives. Manusya: Journal of Humanities, 25(1), 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1163/26659077-25020013

Martínez, I. A., Beck, S. C., & Panza, C. B. 2009. Academic vocabulary in agriculture research articles: A corpus-based study. English for Specific Purposes, 28(3), 183-198. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2009.04.003

Martino, M. L., Lemmo, D., Testoni, I., Iacona, E., Pizzolato, L., Freda, M. F., & Neimeyer, R. A. (2022). Anticipatory mourning and narrative meaning-making in the younger breast cancer experience: An application of the meaning of loss codebook. Behavioral Sciences, 12(4), Article 93. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs12040093

Martino, M. L., Onorato, R., & Freda, M. F. (2015). Linguistic markers of processing trauma experience in women’s written narratives during different breast cancer phases: Implications for clinical interventions. Europe’s Journal of Psychology, 11(4), 651-663. DOI: 10.5964/ejop.v11i4.991

Masa'deh, R., Hall, C., & Collier, J. 2017. An exploration of the concepts of loss and grief as stress responses in Middle Eastern parents of children with cancer. Global Journal of Health Science, 9(6), 97-106. https://doi.org/10.5539/gjhs.v9n6p97

Nilsen, M., Stalsberg, R., Sand, K., Haugan, G., & Reidunsdatter, R. J. (2021). Meaning making for psychological adjustment and quality of life in older long-term breast cancer survivors. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 734198. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.734198

Owen, J. E., Giese-Davis, J., Cordova, M., Kronenwetter, C., Golant, M., & Spiegel, D. (2006). Self-report and linguistic indicators of emotional expression in narratives as predictors of adjustment to cancer. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 29(4), 335-345. DOI: 10.1007/s10865-006-9061-8

Pennebaker, J. W., Boyd, R. L., Jordan, K. N., & Blackburn, K. (2015) The development and psychometric properties of LIWC2015. DOI:10.15781/T29G6Z

Rutherford, B. A. (2005). Genre analysis of corporate annual report narratives: A corpus linguistics–based approach. The Journal of Business Communication, 42(4), 349-378. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021943605279244

Salander, P. (2002). Bad news from the patient’s perspective: An analysis of the analysis of the written narratives of newly diagnosed cancer patients. Social Science & Medicine, 55, 721-732. DOI: 10.1016/s0277-9536(01)00198-8

Schwartz, L., & Drotar, D. (2004). Linguistic analysis of written narratives of caregivers of children and adolescents with chronic illness: Cognitive and emotional processes and physical and psychological health outcomes. Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings, 11, 291-301. https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JOCS.0000045349.10034.62

Seale, C., Ziebland, S., & Charteris-Black, J. (2005). Gender, cancer experience and internet use: A comparative keyword analysis of interviews and online cancer support groups. Social Science & Medicine, 62(10), 2577-2590. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2005.11.016

Shapiro, S., Angus, L., & Davis, C. (1997). Identity and meaning in the experience of cancer: Three narrative themes. Journal of Health Psychology, 2(4), 539-554. DOI: 10.1177/135910539700200410

Smith, S., Anderson-Hanley, C., Langrock, A., & Compas, B. (2005). The effects of journaling for women with newly diagnosed breast cancer. Psycho-Oncology: Journal of the Psychological, Social and Behavioral Dimensions of Cancer, 14(12), 1075-1082. DOI: 10.1002/pon.912

Stamatatos, E., Fakotakis, N., & Kokkinakis, G. (2000). Text genre detection using common word frequencies. In Proceedings of the 18th conference on Computational linguistics-Volume 2 (pp. 808-814). Association for Computational Linguistics.

Tausczik, Y. R., & Pennebaker, J. W. (2010). The psychological meaning of words: LICW and computerized text analysis methods. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 29(1), 24-54. DOI:10.1177/0261927X09351676

Telford, K., Kralik, D., & Koch, T. (2006). Acceptance and denial: Implications for people adapting to chronic illness: Literature review. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 55(4), 57-64. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2648.2006.03942.x

Unal, I. O., & Ordu, C. (2023). Alexithymia, self-compassion, emotional resilience, and cognitive emotion regulation: charting the emotional journey of cancer patients. Current Oncology, 30(10), 8872-8887. DOI: 10.3390/curroncol30100641

Wilson, A. 2016. “Survivor Gene”: Navigating survivorship and the strong Black woman among African-American breast cancer survivors in Los Angeles, California. [Unpublished undergraduate honors thesis, University of Colorado].

Downloads

Published

2025-06-30

How to Cite

Ting, S.-H., & Freddy, F. . (2025). Linguistic Markers of Emotions and Coping Stages in Narratives of Cancer Survivors. Trends in Undergraduate Research, 8(1), f11–25. https://doi.org/10.33736/tur.9087.2025

Issue

Section

Language and Communication