Type a Behaviour Pattern: Relationship to Coronary Heart Disease, Personality and Life Adjustment

Sixty male subjects, all under age 60, taken consecutively from a cardiologist's referral practice were studied in terms of A Behaviour pattern using the Rosenman-Friedman Stress Interview. Subsequently they all underwent personality, temperament and life stress assessment by questionnaire using the MMPI, Thurstone Temperament Schedule, Holmes-Rahe Schedule of Recent Experience, Rosenman Life Satisfaction Questionnaire and a number of demographic measures. They were examined medically and divided into coronary heart disease (CHD) and non-coronary heart disease (NCHD) groups. There were many more A Behaviour subjects reflecting the sampling bias from the cardiologist's practice. There were significantly more A subjects found in the group with CHD than in the NCHD group. A Behaviour subjects were more dissatisfied with their marriages and attainment of life goals and preferred respect and recognition to love and affection. The A Behaviour subjects were considered more open, self-critical, dissatisfied and passive than the non-A cohorts as interpreted from the L, K and Mf scales of the MMPI. The finding of an association between A Behaviour and CHD validates the research of others. The greater dissatisfaction in certain areas of the A subjects’ lives fits in with other research evidence and is discussed in this vein. The passive, aesthetic interests of A subjects although difficult to explain in the light of the contrasting behaviour style, is discussed with reference to earlier psychoanalytic theories. The lack of psychopathology and personality differences in A subjects points up the difficulty of recognizing the A pattern using personality tests and points to the need of improved behavioural measures.