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Breast cancer (BC) can be a traumatic and stressful experience for women, but there are wide‐ranging differences in the ways in which women respond and adapt to BC. This systematic review examines which sociodemographic, disease‐related, and psychosocial factors near diagnosis predict later psychological adjustment to BC.

Database searches were conducted in 9 different health‐related databases from 2000 to December 2015 using relevant search terms. Full‐text, peer‐reviewed articles in English that analyzed potential predictors of psychological adjustment in longitudinal studies were considered for inclusion.

Of 1780 abstracts, 41 studies fulfilled inclusion criteria. Consistent sociodemographic and disease‐related variable predictors of adjustment were income, fatigue, cancer stage, and physical functioning. Psychosocial factors, particularly optimism and trait anxiety, as …