Masters Theses

Date of Award

8-1984

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Nursing

Major Professor

Sylvia E. Hart

Committee Members

Mary Sue Younger, Maureens Groer

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop a descriptive profile of individuals exhibiting the Type B personality pattern. Psychological, behavioral, sociodemographic, and environmental variables were examined. Subjects were 98 individuals from 25 states in the United States of America who had agreed to partic-ipate in the second phase of a longitudinal investigation of health in middle adulthood.

Instruments included the Current Health subscale of Ware's (1976) Health Perceptions Questionnaire, Form II; the Health Habits subscale of the Rand Medical History Questionnaire, Form A (1979); the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scale (Wallston, Wallston, and DeVellis, 1978); the Tennessee Self-Description Form (Thomas, Williams, and Olsen, 1982); the Jenkins Activity Survey (1979); Kanner's (1981) Hassles Scale; Sarason's (1983) Social Support Questionnaire; Kearney and Fleischer's Exer-cise of Self-care Agency Scale (1979); and a demographic survey developed by the researcher. Statistical analyses included measures of central tendency, frequency distributions, and t tests of hypotheses.

Type B individuals, in contrast to their coronary-prone Type A opposites, experience less stress due to the frustrating events of daily life and feel less pressured by too many things to do. They are more inclined to view life as a joy and express fewer concerns about the meaning of life than Type As. Type Bs in middle adulthood tend to be married, employed full-time in a variety of occupations, and satisfied with their work. They pro-fess belief in a higher power, but are not as likely to be in-volved in church activities as Type As. They understand them-selves and espouse an internal locus of control.

The study revealed many positive health benefits for Type B individuals, including better general health status, fewer days ill, fewer visits to physicians, fewer hospitalizations, fewer surgical procedures, and fewer prescription medications. Both male and female Type Bs exhibited similar scoring patterns. Type A males had the worst health of all groups, and Type A females tended to resemble their male counterparts more than they did Type B women. Implications for nursing intervention and for future research were discussed.

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