Fatalism, fear, and prostate cancer screening in African American men: A potential mediating role of intrinsic religiousness

African American men have the highest incidence and mortality rates for prostate cancer, but are least likely to participate in prostate cancer screening. Understanding the potential relationship between barriers to screening, (e.g., fatalism, fear) as well as factors that may increase openness to screening (e.g., intrinsic religiousness [IR]) may improve screening rates in this high-risk population. Men of African descent (N = 481) between the ages of 40 and 70 with no prostate cancer diagnosis participated. Consistent with hypotheses, inevitability of death and predetermination were found to be distinct factors in the PFI, fatalism and IR were curvilinearly associated, and fatalism was positively associated with prostate cancer-specific (PCS) fear. Additionally, IR acted as a mediator between fatalism and PCS fear, though the relationship was not significant. These findings suggest that fatalism, fear, and PCS fear are important factors that may influence prostate cancer screening in African American men.