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.     

Personality,stress, smoking,and genetic predisposition as synergistic risk factors for cancer and coronary heart disease

Risk factors for cancer have been found in the past to act synergistically in a number of studies. However, these studies were not always designed to test the hypothesis of synergism, and have sometimes failed to equate for important variables, which might influence the results. The present study tests the hypothesis that psychosocial variables and physical ones (personality/stress, smoking, and genetic predisposition) interact in a synergistic fashion in the causation of lung cancer and coronary heart disease (CHD).     

Personality correlates of life values

The present study sought to determine whether significant relationships exist between life value preferences and personality traits and to describe the nature of any relationships identified. Administered to 310 undergraduate and graduate students were the 16 PF personality inventory and a 55-item Life Values Inventory which assessed values governing life styles and orientations. A factor analysis of the Life Values Inventory resulted in the identification of 14 life values dimensions. Factor scores for these 14 dimensions were then employed in a canonical analysis and a factor analysis with the 16 PF scores. The canonical analysis yielded results significant at the .001 level. The factor analysis yielded 10 factors, many of which displayed shared common-factor variance between Life Values and 16 PF variables. The interpretation of that shared variance identified several personality correlates of life values that suggested causal and developmental interactions of some value in describing and explaining human behavior.     

Personality correlates of attributional style

Previous research, much of it based on the learned helplessness model of depression, suggested that a wide variety of personality variables might be related to attributional style. The Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ; Peterson et al., 1982) and Comrey Personality Scales (CPS; Comrey, 1970) were administered to 329 subjects, and their scores were subjected to correlational and multiple regression analysis. The CPS scales were also factor analyzed, and the resulting scores were correlated with ASQ scores. Results indicated that a variety of personality variables have statistically significant relationships with attributional style, that these variables show significant positive relationships with internal, stable, and global attributions for positive events and significant negative relationships with these same attributions for negative events, and that an Activity-Extraversion-Stability factor demonstrates the strongest relationships with attributional style. Findings are interpreted within a revised theoretical framework, and emphasis is placed on understanding the personality correlates of attributional style for adequate interpretation of the concept.     

Personality correlates of offence style

The relationship between style of offending, recorded with a 45‐item self‐report inventory (the D45), and personality, as assessed by the Element B measure of FIRO theory (Schutz, 1958, 1992, 1994) was examined for 207 young offenders. Different styles of offending behaviour were identified with a Smallest Space Analysis (SSA‐I) of co‐occurrence among the 45 criminal and deviant behaviours in the D45. This revealed differentiation between Person and Property offences and between Expressive and Instrumental aspects of these styles. Examination of the Element B measures as external variables on the SSA‐I plot revealed a number of relationships between interpersonal personality and offence style. Overall variations in offence style related more clearly to aspects of Control than to interpersonal elements of Inclusion. Property offences, especially acts of vandalism, tended to be committed by individuals who reported higher levels of control from others (Received Control) than did Person offences. Expressive Person style crimes, typically behaviours incorporating violence, or threats thereof, especially where a weapon was involved, reported higher levels of the need for power and dominance (Expressed Control) in their interpersonal relationships. Offenders involved in Expressive Property crimes tended to be individuals for whom other people were felt to be more emotionally open and intimate (Received Openness) than other offenders. The conceptual and theoretical ramifications of this evidence for a differential relationship between personality and style of offending are explored as they relate to Investigative Psychology and ‘Offender Profiling’. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Personality correlates of physical fitness

In this article, I examine the relation between personality and physical fitness. One group (N = 97) of male adults completed the Hogan Personality Inventory and five nationally recognized physical fitness batteries. A second group (N = 35) completed the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory and a set of medical and physical performance assessments. Results indicate that physical fitness must be defined in multidimensional terms and that fitness is related to self-confidence and self-discipline. Measures of psychopathology were unrelated to measures of health and fitness. These data suggest that the personal qualities associated with fitness are also those that promote and extend health.     

Personality correlates of dissociative experiences

This study investigated the prevalence of dissociative experiences in a normal British sample. The Dissociation Experiences Scale of Bernstein and Putnam was used to measure these experiences. The relationship between dissociative experiences and personality variables measured by the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire was a major focus of the study. It was found that the degree of dissociative experiences was related to neuroticism, but not to any other variable.     

Personality correlates of assertive behavior

The present research studied the relationships between assertive behavior and two personality variables: extroversion and need for approval (nApp). Assertive behavior was measured in two role-play situations: an authority situation and an equal situation. It was found that extroverts behaved more assertively than introverts. nApp was negatively related to assertive behavior for females, while for males no correlation was found between nApp and assertive behavior in the authority situation and a positive correlation was found in the equal situation. It was concluded that extroversion and nApp are contributing factors in assertive behavior and that nApp moderates assertiveness differentially for males and females.     

Personality, psychopathology, and demographic correlates of medical vs behavioral reasons for referral in alcoholic men

The personality, psychopathological, and demographic differences between 330 alcoholic men referred for behavioral problems and 104 alcoholic men referred for medical problems were examined. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 indicated that those referred for behavioral problems showed more antisocial characteristics, while those referred for medical reasons had more subjective distress, were more highly introverted, and showed greater somatic preoccupation. Hispanic alcoholic men had a significantly higher proportion of medical referrals than Caucasian and African-American alcoholic men.