Treatment rejecting and treatment seeking personality disorders: Type R and Type S

An important distinguishing feature of one group of personality disorders is the wish of the sufferer to seek treatment. For another group this wish is rarely entertained. Although there is some variation between different types of personality disorder the wish to change is not confined to any one diagnostic category. A useful subclassification of personality disorders is therefore into Type R (treatment rejecting) and Type S (treatment seeking) personality disorders, and these are defined operationally. The classification of 68 personality disordered patients on the caseload of an assertive community team using a simple scale showed a 3 to 1 ratio between Type R and Type S personality disorders with Cluster C personality disorders being significantly more likely to be Type S, and paranoid and schizoid (Cluster A) personality disorders significantly more likely to be Type R than others. It is suggested that this typology is useful for those contemplating treatment with those who have personality disorders.     

Smoking and Type A behaviour

This study examines the relationship between Type A behaviour and smoking. Data were gathered from a random sample of 100 undergraduate male daily smokers, with a mean age of 21.2 years (SD = 2.72), using the Type A Behaviour Scale (Bortner and Rosenman, 1967). Results reveal that Type A smokers are heavier daily consumers of cigarettes than Type B smokers (t = 2.90, p less than 0.01). The observed relationship between smoking and Type A behaviour remains significant even when the influence of aggression in partialled out. The need to further investigate the interplay of genetic and non-genetic predispositions, and smoking in the incidence of coronary heart diseases (CHD) is suggested.     

The Effect of Experience on the Goal-Setting Behavior of Type A and Type B Individuals

The effect of experience on the goal-setting behavior of Type A and Type B individuals was assessed using anagram tasks. Sixty men and 60 women were administered the Jenkins Activity Survey as well as a questionnaire assessing their previous experience with anagram tasks. Before each of three anagram trials, subjects set a performance goal and indicated how certain they were that they could reach that goal. The analyses indicated that Type A men had the largest differences between performance goals and actual performance, even though men, in general, were more certain that they would reach their goals. Differences across trials, however, decreased for all individuals. Men with the most prior self-reported experience were least satisfied with their performance. Of interest was the finding that Type B women had higher difference scores than did Type A women.     

Type A behavior and stress in college males

Substantial inconsistency can be noted among studies that have considered the relationship between Type A status and subsequent cardiac pathology. This erratic prediction pattern could be partially explained by the failure to consider level of stress in Type As, because only Type As that experience excessive and sustained stress should be at special risk. A stress-vulnerability model for young Type A college students was proposed involving selected Type A characteristics and other personality moderator variables serving to elicit, augment, and sustain stress. We considered self-preoccupation as a stress moderator in Type A college males and found evidence that it serves this function. Self-preoccupied Type As reported excessive stress over the previous year, whereas less self-centered Type As did not. Self-preoccupation was of no importance in moderating stress in Type Bs.     

Type A behavior pattern and the judgment of control

We investigated the control judgments of Type A and B actors and observers after five tasks in which actual response-outcome contingency and success were varied systematically. Results indicated that, overall, actors provided higher control judgments than did observers, and both actual contingency and success influenced judged control. Type A and B actors did not differ in their self-perceptions of control but observers judged the Type A actors to have exerted more control than the Type B actors, primarily on positive contingency tasks. These findings suggest that Type As, because of their more active, dynamic style, may be credited by observers with more control or competence than is warranted. By contrast, the more relaxed style of the Type B may lead to lower than warranted evaluations of control or competence. Lastly, Type As were found to learn the contingencies better than Type Bs with important implications for the actual exercise of control.     

Type A behaviour pattern and assertive behaviour

The assertiveness patterns of Type A coronary-prone subjects were compared with those of Type B subjects in negative and positive situations. Type As were found to exhibit high assertiveness in both negative and positive situations. Type Bs responded as assertively as Type As in positive situations but less assertively in negative situations. The implications of the results are discussed.     

Type A Behavior and Stress in College Males

Substantial inconsistency can be noted among studies that have considered the relationship between Type A status and subsequent cardiac pathology. This erratic prediction pattern could be partially explained by the failure to consider level of stress in Type As, because only Type As that experience excessive and sustained stress should be at special risk. A stress-vulnerability model for young Type A college students was proposed involving selected Type A characteristics and other personality moderator variables serving to elicit, augment, and sustain stress. We considered self-preoccupation as a stress moderator in Type A college males and found evidence that k serves this function. Self-preoccupied Type As reported excessive stress over the previous year, whereas less self-centered Type As did not. Self-preoccupation was of no importance in moderating stress in Type Bs.     

Assessing Type A behavior in children: a longitudinal exploration of the overlap between Type A behavior and hyperactivity

Child Type A behavior and its relation to hyperactivity were investigated developmentally using a longitudinal normal sample of 91 children (46 boys and 45 girls) between the ages of 4 and 8-9. In light of the overlap found in several studies between Type A behavior, as measured by the Matthews Youth Test for Health (MYTH) questionnaire, and hyperactivity measured by questionnaires, an attempt was made to measure Type A behavior as distinct from hyperactivity using behavioral observations. The MYTH questionnaire and behavioral observations were used to assess Type A behavior and questionnaire-based measures and behavioral observations were used to assess hyperactivity. Predictions were made regarding individual stability in phenomena and in measures. The results indicated considerable stability in the respective Type A and hyperactivity measures over time, and further, that behavioral observations make it possible to measure Global Type A behavior and Type A Competitiveness as distinct from hyperactivity, although the status of Type A Impatience at early ages is not yet settled. The MYTH and the observed Type A behavior showed differential relations to external criteria, such as achievement measures and problem behavior. This has implications for future measurement and perhaps conceptualization of Type A behavior in children, and thereby also for studying the developmental aspects of Type A behavior.     

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.     

Subtypes of drug-addicts in treatment: empirical support for a distinction between Type A and Type B

This study examines the possibility of replicating and generalizing a multidimensional typology of drug-addicts by means of the evaluation of 320 participants who were receiving outpatient treatment for their problem of addiction. A two-stage cluster analysis was performed, revealing the existence of two typologies of consumers, called type A and Type B. The participants classified as Type B showed various indicators of chronicity (higher mean age, higher unemployment rate), more severity of their problem of drug consumption and of medical aspects, employment support, legal, family/social and psychiatric problems in comparison with Type A. Participants from the latter group reported active employment as their main source of income and they had consumed drugs for fewer years. However, they presented more severity associated with alcohol consumption. In view of these data, Type A is called functional drug-addict and Type B chronic drug-addict. Once the groups of drug-addicts were delimited, a more specific characterization was made, taking seven problem areas into account: medical, employment support, alcohol, drugs, legal, family/social, and psychiatric areas. As a general conclusion, more psychosocial severity was observed in Type B as compared with Type A. Lastly, the implications and usefulness of grouping drug-addicts into typologies is discussed.     

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.     

Type A behaviour and school achievement

Type A behaviour related to school achievement was studied in 1640 randomly selected 12-, 15-, and 18-year-old subjects. Type A behaviour was both self-assessed by the subjects and evaluated by their mothers. Results indicated that school achievement was not related to the global score of Type A behaviour but correlated with three Type A dimensions, i.e. positively with Responsible Hard-driving and Leadership Competitiveness, and negatively with Aggressive Competitiveness. It has previously been shown that hard-driving correlates with a high level of somatic CHD risk factors, while leadership competition is a protective factor, i.e. it is associated with a low level of somatic CHD risk. So, school achievement differentiated adjusted and maladjusted Type A competitors, but not individuals with high and low somatic CHD risk. The results were manifest for boys and girls and for all age groups. Moreover, it was shown that the results were obtained independently of the methods used.     

Type D personality and cardiac output in response to stress

Type D personality is predictive of adverse clinical outcome and psychological distress in cardiac patients. However, the mechanisms by which Type D affects health are largely unknown. This study (1) investigated the relationship between Type D and cardiovascular reactivity to experimentally induced stress and (2) tested the influence of Type D on subjective feelings of stress. Eighty four healthy young adults (50% males, mean (SD) age 22 (6.84) years), completed measures of Type D personality, stress arousal and a stress-inducing procedure involving a taxing mental arithmetic task. Cardiovascular measures were recorded throughout the experiment. Mixed measures ANOVA showed a significant main effect of Type D and a significant group by time effect of Type D on cardiac output in male participants. Type D males exhibit significantly higher cardiac output during the stressor phase compared to non-Type D males. However, there was no relationship between Type D and cardiovascular reactivity in females. In addition, Type D individuals exhibited significantly higher feelings of subjective stress compared to non-Type D's. These findings provide new evidence on Type D and suggest that Type D may affect health through increased cardiac output and higher subjective feelings of stress following acute stress.     

Dominance: Another Facet of Type A1

Aggression, but not dominance, is typically used as a criterion for the assessment of Type A behavior. This study proposed and demonstrated that nonaggressive dominance, defined as interpersonal resistance or persistence in efforts to control a competitive situation, is associated with Type A behavior for both males and females. Forty males and 35 females typed with the Jenkins Activity Survey participated in a revised version of the classic Deutsch and Krauss (1960) competition paradigm. Both A males and females were more dominant than their respective Type B counterparts. Type A males were not different from Type A females in persistence, nor were Type B males different from Type B females. Female Type A's were more resistant to their competitor's efforts at controlling the situation than were their Type B counterparts. Male Type A's did not differ from their Type B counterparts in resistance. The implications of these results in further elucidating the mechanisms underlying the relationship between Type A and pathophysiologic health hazards are discussed.     

Type T Personality and the Jungian Classification System

The Type T personality has been described as a personality dimension referring to individual differences in stimulation seeking, excitement seeking, thrill seeking, arousal seeking, and risk taking. This article explores its relationship to the theoretically relevant personality classification system of C. G. Jung, employing the Myers-Briggs Type indicator as a measure of Jungian types. A sample of high-school students was administered the Myers-Briggs and a measure of Type T. Pearson correlations revealed Type T to be significantly related to the Jungian Intuitive and Perceptive types, with the Type T personality being described as intuitive and perceptive. Interpretations of these exploratory findings were offered.     

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.     

Relation of Type A behavior to performance and satisfaction among sales personnel

Many of the personal characteristics frequently associated with successful sales performance are very similar to behaviors which are a part of the Type A coronary-prone behavior pattern. This study investigated the relationship between Type A behavior and sales performance, as well as job satisfaction, among a sample of 355 life insurance agents. No significant differences were found between Type A and B agents and three measures of sales performance and one measure of general job satisfaction. Type A behavior among the sample was associated with measures of stress and number of health complaints. Possible explanations for the lack of Type A-performance and Type A-satisfaction relationships are discussed as is the importance of the association with stress and health complaints.     

Type A behavior and occupational stress: a cross-cultural study of blue-collar workers

Psychophysiological, archival, unobtrusive observation, and self-report data were compared for Type A and Type B male bus drivers in the United States and India. Type A bus drivers in comparison with their Type B counterparts have more accidents, absenteeism, official reprimands, and self-reports of occupational stress. In India, but not in the United States, Type A drivers brake, pass, and blow their horns more often than Type B drivers. Although drivers exhibited expected elevations in blood pressure and catecholamines on the job, the magnitude of these increases did not differ as a function of the Type A/B classification.     

Type T personality and the Jungian classification system

The Type T personality has been described as a personality dimension referring to individual differences in stimulation seeking, excitement seeking, thrill seeking, arousal seeking, and risk taking. This article explores its relationship to the theoretically relevant personality classification system of C.G. Jung, employing the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator as a measure of Jungian types. A sample of high-school students was administered the Myers-Briggs and a measure of Type T. Pearson correlations revealed Type T to be significantly related to the Jungian Intuitive and Perceptive types, with the Type T personality being described as intuitive and perceptive. Interpretations of these exploratory findings were offered.