Type a behavior,irritability, and cardiovascular response

Previous research suggests that high levels of hostility may augment the cardiovascular reactivity and risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) associated with Type A behavior. In contrast, other research indicates that the tendency to deny or suppress anger is associated with enhanced cardiovascular reactivity and risk of CHD. To delineate further the combined role of anger processes and Type A behavior in CHD risk, this study examined the interactive effects of Type A behavior and self-reported irritability on cardiovascular response to a challenging mental task. Type A and Type B college students were further classified as either high or low in self-reported irritability. Type A subjects who were low in self-reported irritability evidenced greater cardiovascular reactivity (i.e., systolic blood pressure and pulse rate) than did Type B subjects low in irritability. However, Type A subjects who were high in irritability tended to demonstrate less cardiovascular response than Type B subjects high in irritability. Further, Type A's low in self-reported irritability evidenced greater cardiovascular response than high-irritability Type A's. It is suggested that reduced reporting of irritability by Type A's may reflect suppression or denial, and further that this reduced reporting is associated with enhanced cardiovascular responsivity.     

Risk,protection, and resilience in Chinese adolescents: A psycho‐social study

A total of 636 Grade 11 Chinese students completed measures of risk factors, protective factors, and problem behaviour complemented by achievement data. In terms of risk factors, poor parental management and low school commitment were significant predictors of problem behaviour while low school commitment was a significant predictor of low academic achievement. In terms of protective factors, family attachment, opportunities and recognition for pro‐social involvement in school, and high school expectation of behaviour negatively predict problem behaviour. Pro‐social involvement in school and high expectations of behaviour significantly predict academic achievement. There was also a significant difference on protective factors between resilient and non‐resilient groups from high‐risk family environments.     

Response of the pituitary-adrenal axis in terms of type a behaviour,hostility and vital exhaustion in healthy middle-aged men

Abstract

Pituitary-adrenal axis was studied in terms of Type A behaviour, hostility and vital exhaustion among 69 healthy middle-aged men. The results showed that psychological factors could explain a significant proportion of the biologically manipulated responses of HPA axis, but they worked in different ways. Type A behaviour was related to a high level of mean basal ACTH and a low level of cortisol response to ACTH stimulation after dexamethasone suppression; hostility was related to a high level of mean basal cortisol and a high cortisol in cortisol/ACTH ratio, while vital exhaustion was characterized by a low level of mean basal ACTH and a decreased ACTH in relation to cortisol. The adrenocortical patterns, i.e. a high ACTH-low cortisol; a high cortisol; and a low ACTH-low mean basal cortisol, as related to Type A behaviour, hostility and exhaustion, respectively, are in line with the traditional physiological stress model and suggest that different adrenocortical responses might be able to identify different mental stress processes. Sense of control has been suggested to be a key concept for psychological understanding of this finding.     

Type A behaviour pattern and attentional bias in relation to anger/hostility, achievement, and failure

Type A subjects are characterised by dysfunctional cognitions related to themes of competitiveness, achievement, and hostility. The present experiment investigated attentional biases for words relevant to the content of these dysfunctional schemata in Type A individuals. After completing the MMPI-2 Type A Scale, subjects completed two alternative versions of a visual probe detection task (administered 4–12 days apart) which contained achievement, failure, and anger/hostility/aggression related words. Prior to testing at time 1, subjects were told that the purpose of the procedure was to collect normative data only. Prior to testing at time 2, subjects were told that performance on the test was known to be closely related to IQ and that they could compare their performance with that of other subjects following completion of the task. Type A subjects directed attention towards anger/hostility/aggression words under low performance motivation conditions but away from such words under high performance motivation conditions. Type A subjects also showed less selective attention to failure words than Type B subjects, and no group differences were detected for achievement related words. The results are discussed with reference to models of dysfunctional cognitive processing, and the role of anger/hostility, in particular, in Type A personality.     

Type A personality, self-control, and vulnerability to stress

Type A behavior (hard-driving, competitive, time-urgent, hostile-irritable) has been linked to high stress levels and the risk of eventual cardiovascular problems (i.e., coronary heart disease, CHD). However, this pattern of behavior closely resembles the traditional masculine instrumental (goal-oriented) orientation, and, if kept within limits, may be viewed as adaptive in success-oriented, middle-class college students. Hypothetically then, Type A behavior may be displayed by a broad group of individuals, and only in those cases when it is allowed to reach extreme proportions is stress sufficient enough to confer risk. This article considers two lines of reasoning. Is greater self-control required for college women to be Type As, because it involves crossing into traditional male role behavior? Type A women displayed significantly better self-control then Type B women; the opposite result was disclosed for college men with Type As displaying poorer self-control than Type Bs. The question of whether risk-conferring Type A behavior would result from poorer self-control was answered in the affirmative. Self-control assumed moderator status; poorer self-control in both male and female Type As was associated with high levels of day-to-day stress relative to Type As with better self-control. Self-control did not influence stress level in Type Bs. This moderator effect suggests that only Type As who cannot contain their behavior within adaptive limits will be vulnerable to excessive stress and at risk for CHD.     

A critical evaluation of some commonly-employed methods for the assessment of type a coronary-prone behaviour

Type A coronary-prone behaviour has been repeatedly associated with an increased incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD) amongst middle-aged men and women. This association appears to be independent of other standard CHD risk factors such as smoking, high blood pressure and elevated serum cholesterol levels. This paper presents normative and correlational data for a number of commonly-employed self-report measures of Type A behaviour and the structured interview. These data replicate U.S. findings that self-report measures tend to correlate only moderately with the Structured-Interview method of assessment of Type A behaviour. The implications of these data for researchers attempting to assess Type A behaviour, especially with limited resources, are discussed.     

Personality as a risk factor in coronary heart disease

The pioneering work of the authors of the Type A personality concept has now been shown to be seriously flawed, with only the traits of anger, aggression, and hostility remaining as risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD). There is now evidence for a much stronger relationship between CHD and personality involving a rather different set of concepts and theories. The evidence for such a relationship is summarized, and a causal link suggested. It is also shown that the CHD-prone type of behaviour can be changed by behaviour therapy, decreasing considerably the risk of dying from CHD.     

Type A behavior, achievement striving, and a dysfunctional self-evaluation system

We conducted two experiments to examine the relations among characteristics of how Type A individuals strive for achievement, including goal achievement, self-evaluation, and psychological distress. We evaluated these relations as subjects performed two sequential general information tests. Experiment 1 indicated that achievement striving associated with the Type A behavior pattern is characterized by a tendency to set personal goals in excess of performance and is associated with a low probability of achieving goals. The results of Experiment 2 indicated that the achievement strategy Type A individuals adopted was associated with low self-evaluation of their actual performance. Furthermore, a pre- and postexperiment self-report questionnaire of psychological state suggested that failure to achieve personal goals was related to increased psychological distress. The results of our study suggest that unrealistically high performance standards and failure to achieve personal goals may be a mechanism that triggers the negative psychological states and performance dissatisfaction associated with the Type A behavior pattern. Our study also supports theoretical conceptualizations that excessive achievement striving can act as a potential motivational mechanism but can also have potential pathogenic consequences through misregulation of achievement expectancy and evaluation.     

Cardiovascular reactivity, affective responses and performance related to the risk dimensions of coronary-prone behaviour

This study was designed to test the association between (a) components of the coronaryprone behaviour (Hostility, Competitiveness, Impatience, Job involvement, and Rumination), and (b) cardiovascular reactivity [Systolic blood pressure (SBP), Diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and heart rate (HR)], mood state, and performance. Sixty-one subjects volunteered in a laboratory session that included the performance of a mental arithmetic task and a reaction time task. The results showed that: (1) only the Hostility, Competitiveness, and Rumination dimensions were significantly associated with physiological reactivity (mainly SBP). This differential reactivity was particularly significant while subjects performed the mental arithmetic task. Individual differences in Competitiveness were also related to the reactivity during the reaction time task. (2) No significant relations appeared between these dimensions and mood responses. (3) Lastly, performance was only related to the Competitiveness dimension. The more competitive subjects were, the shorter their reaction time was. These results are interpreted as supporting the risk status of these coronary-prone dimensions. At the same time, suggestions concerning the more complex role the Competitiveness factor could be playing are made.     

优、差生非智力因素发展研究

本文从发展的角度研究小学、初中至高中阶段优生、差生非智力因素的发展趋势 ,并探讨智力、非智力因素与优生、差生学习成绩的关系。结果显示 :(1)优生、差生的非智力因素发展水平不同 ,但发展顺序一致 ,初二是非智力因素发展的转折期 ;(2 )非智力因素在优生中普遍高于同年级差生 ;并对优生、差生学习成绩影响差异显著 ;(3)智力因素与非智力因素呈显著正相关 ,它们共同影响学习成绩。就被试总体而言 :智力因素对学习成绩的贡献率为 2 2 % ,非智力因素的贡献率为 59%。     

The Relationships of Type A Behavior and Optimism with Job Performance and Blood Pressure

Type A behavior and optimism were examined as predictors of blood pressure and job performance in a hospital setting. Results indicate that the achievement striving dimension of Type A behavior was negatively related to blood pressure. The impatient/irritable dimension of Type A behavior was unrelated to either performance or blood pressure. The interaction of achievement striving Type A behavior and optimism was related to blood pressure and technical job performance. Specifically, achievement striving predicted blood pressure and technical performance when optimism was high but not when it was low. Implications for future research are discussed.     

Direct and relational bullying among primary school children and academic achievement

The association between bullying behaviour and academic achievement was investigated in 1016 children from primary schools (6-7-year-olds/year 2: 480; 8-9-year-olds/year 4: 536). Children were individually interviewed about their bullying experiences using a standard interview. Key Stage I National Curriculum results (assessed at the end of year 2) were collected from class teachers, and parents completed a behaviour and health questionnaire. Results revealed no relationship between direct bullying behaviour and decrements in academic achievement. Conversely, higher academic achievement at year 2 predicted bullying others relationally (e.g. social exclusion at year 4). Relational victimisation, Special Educational Needs (SEN), being a pupil from a rural school or small classes and low socioeconomic status (SES) predicted low academic achievement for year 2 children. Findings discount the theory that underachievement and frustration at school leads to direct, physical bullying behaviour.     

Teachers’ social support,somatic complaints and academic motivation in children and early adolescents

The study aim was to find out what is pupils perception of teachers' support and to check if different types of perceived support are connected with the level of somatic symptoms reported by students at school. Additionally the study searched for possible links between students' evaluation of teachers ‘as instructors, guides and caregivers’ and their motivation to attend the class and to study the subject. The results show that students perceived informative teachers' support as the most available. Prevalent somatic symptoms reported by students were those connected with tiredness, distraction, low energy and pain. Teachers' evaluation was positively linked to academic motivation. High level of perceived (1) emotional, (2) informational teachers support and a (3) high ‘mark’ prescribed by student to the teacher via teachers' evaluation were negatively related to somatic symptoms. Due to students composition i.e. children originating from different economic backgrounds, the support perception from this perspective was also analysed. The study results indicate that teachers' support perception by children living in harsh economic conditions depended on the division in which they attend the school.     

Coronary heart disease and psychological variables: is Type A enough to increase the risk?

A group of coronary patients (89 males and 19 females) suffering from angina pectoris and a control group (157 males and 95 females) were psychometrically studied before and after being matched by age and sex, in order to test if psychological variables other than Type A could be related to the coronary risk. Type A behaviour was assessed through the Jenkins Activity Survey, form C (JAS-C) and the Borther questionnaire. Other psychological variables studied were hostility-aggressivity, assessed through the Buss-Durkee Inventory, and Psychoticism (P), Neuroticism (N) and Extraversion (E). Results supported the authors' hypothesis that CHD events are more probable in Type A people with neurotic and aggressive features (coronary-prone behavior) than in people showing only Type A traits. Neuroticism scores were significantly higher in coronary patients, in whom the aggressive features could be related to a ‘hostile-paranoid’ structure, more prominent in men.     

Enhancing the prediction of self-handicapping

Levels of test anxiety, Type A and Type B coronary-prone behavior, fear of failure, and covert self-esteem were studied as predictors of self-handicapping performance attributions for college women who were placed in either a high- (N = 49) or low- (N = 49) evaluative test or task situation. We hypothesized that test anxiety. Type A or Type B level, and their interaction would account for reliable variance in the prediction of self-handicapping. However, we also theorized that underlying high fear of failure and low covert self-esteem would explain the self-handicapping claims of test-anxious and Type A subjects. The results indicated that only high levels of test anxiety and high levels of covert self-esteem were related to women's self-handicapping attributions.     

中学生成就动机与成功恐惧的研究

运用成就动机问卷与投射测验研究了454名中学生的成就动机与成功恐惧,结果表明,中学生的成就动机存在显著的学校类型差异,重点中学学生的成就动机显著强于普通中学学生。男生和女生均存在着成功恐惧,其恐惧主要与学业、人际关系、家庭和事业有关。被试在女主人公身上投射出更多的成功恐惧。中学生追求成功的动机与成功恐惧呈显著的负相关,而避免失败的动机与成功恐惧呈显著的正相关。     

Type A behaviour and psychophysiological arousal

The "coronary prone" or Type A behaviour pattern, characterized by e.g., hard-driving competitiveness, impatience and aggressiveness, is associated with elevated systolic blood pressure and catecholamine secretion during challenge. In experiments at our laboratory, elevated psychophysiological arousal was found in Type A subjects during understimulation, but not during active performance on a self-paced reaction time task. Results suggest that differences in cardiovascular and behavioural reactivity between Type A and B persons tend to be related to the pace of the environment to which they are exposed. Studies of antecedents of Type A behaviour in children show that "Type A children" respond to challenge with a greater increase in sympathetic arousal than "non-Type As". This suggests the possibility that genetic dispositions and/or conditioned sympathetic reactivity play an important role in the development of the Type A behaviour pattern.     

12岁儿童充分条件假言推理能力发展的个体差异研究

以三类不同题目（与生活经验密切联系、与生活经验相悖、与生活经验“脱离”）,探查了12岁普通儿童与数学成绩优异儿童充分条件假言推理能力发展的个体差异。通过对测查成绩的聚类分析,可将被试划分为四种不同的类型,从而显示出同一年龄儿童不同的推理能力发展水平：普通组儿童有关推理能力已有初步发展,但推理过程仍经常受其具体内容的束缚;数学成绩优异组儿童假设思维和演绎推理能力协调发展,“形式”从“内容”的束缚中解放出来,推理思维活动能较好地符合有关逻辑规则。这两组儿童假言推理能力的差异可能跟智能水平有关。     

Achievement motivation and problem solving

Abstract.— The relationships between achievement motivation and problem solving were discussed. It was suggested that problem solving may be differentially related to achievement motivation in high and low ability groups. In a group of 46 male students, scoring high on a test of intellectual flexibility, a positive relationship was found between a projective measure of fear of failure and solution of the Hatrack Problem. In a group of 49 male subjects with low flexibility scores, fear of failure was negatively related to problem solving. The results were taken to indicate that the ability measure represented general self confidence and expectancy. Thus subjects with high self confidence might attempt to avoid failure by trying hard to succeed, while a more probable strategy for subjects with low expectancy would be to exert little effort. A test of this hypothesis was made by analyzing a measure of overt activity in the Hatrack situation across high/low motivational and ability groups. Whereas in the high ability group subjects with high fear of failure showed a high level of activity, high fear of failure subjects in the low ability group showed a low level of activity, thus supporting the hypothesis.     

The role of masculinity in a prognostic predictor of heart attack severity

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in the United States for both men and women. Men, however, are more likely that women to suffer from CHD at all ages. While previous research has linked Type A behavior to CHD, investigators have failed to note the role traditional masculinity plays in the development of that behavior pattern and in the development of other psychosocial risk factors for CHD. In the present study, 90 postmyocardial infarction patients were interviewed shortly before hospital discharge. The masculinity-CHD relationship was hypothesized to be mediated by masculinity's link to Type A behavior, poor health practices, and impaired social networks. Masculinity, along with these mediating variables, was then expected to be related to the Peel prognostic indicator of heart attack severity. Results indicated that negative or extreme masculinity was related to each of the mediating variables and to heart attack severity, but the effect of masculinity on heart attack severity was not mediated by Type A behavior, poor health practices, or impaired social networks.