AbstractOne hundred and twenty‐one patients who were admitted for breast biopsy were interviewed on the day before the operation. They were asked to recall all stressful life events which had occurred during the two years that preceded the onset of cancer. An appropriate control group of 42 healthy patients from a well woman clinic were also interviewed. All patients also completed a self‐rating questionnaire. Scaling of life events was done by another group of hospital inpatients.The results showed that cancer patients experienced significantly more stressful life events in the two years that preceded the onset of cancer than the non‐cancer and well woman patients. Cancer and non‐cancer patients experienced events with medium and high stress factors, while the well woman patients experienced events with low and medium stress factors. The main difference in personality was that cancer patients tended to ‘conceal their feelings’, while the non‐cancer and well woman patients were more ‘expressive of their feelings’. The differences in personality profile and experience of stressful life events between the three groups of patients could be explained in terms of coping strategies and locus of control. The implications of this study a