Effects of Type A Behavior Pattern on Stress in University Students

Abstract

Type A behavior pattern has been established as a risk factor for coronary heart disease. It has been suggested that Type A individuals who are characterized as hard-driving, competitive, time-urgent, and impatient tended to increase stressors such as daily hassles and stressful life events. The present study examined the effects of Type A components on stress responses and daily hassles in university students. To accomplish this, a questionnaire that consists of Type A behavior pattern scale, daily hassles scale, and psychological and physical stress response scale was administered to 708 students in Okinawa. The results were as follows. For Type A components, 3 factors were extracted by a principal component analysis : aggression factor, hard-driving factor, and time urgency factor. Multiple regression analysis revealed that daily hassles and time urgency were positively related to psychological stress responses in male. Daily hassles and aggression were positively related, however, hard-driving was negatively related to psychological stress responses in female. Daily hassles, time urgency, and aggression were positively related to physical stress responses both in male and female. Each multiple regression model showed that daily hassles contributed most significantly to their prediction. Aggression and time urgency were positively related to daily hassles both in male and female. These results show that daily hassles are most effectively to predict stress responses, and aggression and time urgency are effectively to predict daily hassles. It is supposed that hard-driving will suppress psychological stress responses only in female.