Hockenbury Discovering Psychology 5th txtbk

Individual Factors That Influence the Response to Stress513pressure, and elevated levels of cholesterol in their blood. The conclusion seemedclear: The Type A behavior pattern was a significant risk factor for heart disease.Although early results linking the Type A behavior pattern to heart disease wereimpressive, studies soon began to appear in which Type A behavior did not reliablypredict the development of heart disease (see Myrtek, 2007; Krantz & McCeney,2002). These findings led researchers to question whether the different componentsof the Type A behavior pattern were equally hazardous to health. After all, manypeople thrive on hard work, especially when they enjoy their jobs. And, high achieversdon’t necessarily suffer from health problems (Robbins & others, 1991).When researchers focused on the association between heart disease and each separatecomponent of the Type A behavior pattern—time urgency, hostility, andachievement striving—an important distinction began to emerge (Suls & Bunde,2005). Feeling a sense of time urgency and being competitive or achievement orienteddid not seem to be associated with the development of heart disease. Instead,the critical component that emerged as the strongest predictor of cardiac disease washostility (Cooper & Dewe, 2004; Miller & others, 1996). Hostility refers to the tendencyto feel anger, annoyance, resentment, and contempt and to hold cynical andnegative beliefs about human nature in general. Hostile people are also prone to believingthat the disagreeable behavior of others is intentionally directed against them.Thus, hostile people tend to be suspicious, mistrustful, cynical, and pessimistic.Hostile people are much more likely than other people to develop heart disease,even when other risk factors are taken into account (Niaura & others, 2002). In onestudy that covered a 25-year span, hostile men were five times as likely to developheart disease and nearly seven times as likely to die as nonhostile men (Barefoot &others, 1983). The results of this prospective study are shown in Figure 12.6. Subsequentresearch has found that high hostility levels increase the likelihood of dyingfrom all natural causes, including cancer (Miller & others, 1996).How does hostility predispose people to heart disease and other health problems?First, hostile Type As tend to react more intensely to a stressor than other peopledo (Lyness, 1993). They experience greater increases in blood pressure, heart rate,and the production of stress-related hormones. Because of their attitudes and behavior,hostile men and women also tend to create more stress in their own lives(Suls & Bunde, 2005). They experience more frequent, and more severe, negativelife events and daily hassles than other people (Smith, 1992).In general, the research evidence demonstrating the role of personality factors inthe development of stress-related disease is impressive. Nevertheless, it’s importantto keep this evidence in perspective: Personality characteristics are just some of themany factors involved in the overall picture of health and disease. We look at thisissue in more detail in the Critical Thinking box on the next page. And, in EnhancingWell-Being with Psychology, at the end of this chapter, we describe some of thesteps you can take to help you minimize the effects of stress on your health.The Type A Behavior Pattern The originalformulation of the Type A behavior patternincluded hostility, ambition, and a sense oftime urgency. Type A people always seemto be in a hurry. They hate wasting timeand often try to do two or more things atonce. However, later research showed thathostility, anger, and cynicism were far moredamaging to physical health than ambitionor time urgency (Suls & Bunde, 2005).100Percentage still alive9590855(age 30)10(age 35)15(age 40)20(age 45)Years after initial assessmentLowhostilityHighhostility25(age 50)Figure 12.6 Hostility and MortalityBeginning when they were in medicalschool, more than 250 doctors were monitoredfor their health status for 25 years.In this prospective study, those who hadscored high in hostility in medical schoolwere seven times more likely to die by age50 than were those who had scored low inhostility.Source: Based on Barefoot & others (1983), p. 61.