Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

3-1987

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Education

Major Professor

Robert L. Williams

Committee Members

Kathleen L. Davis, Schuyler W. Huck, Kathleen A. Lawler

Abstract

The Type A behavior pattern (TABP) has been found to have a statistically significant relationship to coronary heart disease (CHD) risk. As evidence linking TABP to CHD has accumulated, the hostility component of TABP has emerged in research studies as the characteristic which seems to have the most predictive power for CHD risk. The Type A syndrome is less well researched and understood, however, from the perspective of the motivation for the behavior. One explanation for the evolution and maintenance of TABP suggests that a network of beliefs about people and the world is responsible for the behavior pattern. At present, there is no psychometrically sound instrument for measuring the specific beliefs thought to be associated with TABP; however, the Rotter Internal-External Scale, a well-established instrument for measuring locus of control, has been factor analyzed and appears to include beliefs which parallel TABP beliefs concerning people and the nature of the world.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among TABP, hostility, and Rotter locus of control (LOC) beliefs to provide new knowledge concerning the motivation for CHD risk behavior. It was hypothesized that Types A and B people would differ in their beliefs, with Type As inclined more toward externality and beliefs that the world is difficult, unjust, and unpredictable. It was also hypothesized that Types A and B subjects would differ in their levels of hostility with Type As having higher hostility and anger-in than Type Bs. A third hypothesis was that hostile and non-hostile people would differ in their beliefs, with hostile people expected to score more in the direction of externality.

Subjects in the study were men (N=72) and women (N=19) between the ages of 25 and 52 who were either full-time members of the Air National Guard or employed in civilian occupations with weekend Guard duty once a month. Each subject completed a demographic questionnaire, the Jenkins Activity Survey, the Rotter Internal-External Scale, and the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory. Pearson product-moment correlations, independent samples t-tests, and multiple regression analysis were used in the data analysis.

The results of the study did not confirm the prediction that Type As would be more inclined toward beliefs that the world is difficult, unjust, and unpredictable. Likewise, hypothesis testing j did not support the idea that Type As would have higher levels of hostility than Type Bs. The prediction that hostile subjects would score more in the direction of external locus of control and beliefs that the world is difficult and predictable was supported. In addition, externality was found to be more strongly related to the anger-in dimension of hostility than anger-out.

While the results of this study did not confirm a relationship between locus of control beliefs and the global TABP, the results did reveal a relationship between the hostility component of TABP and a network of beliefs about people and the nature of the world. This information has implications for identification and treatment of people who display hostility, the TABP component which appears to be the critical element of association with CHD.

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