Negative Emotions and Psychosomatic Manifestations: Common Features and Differences Between the Type a Behavior Pattern and Type D Personality

Abstract

The Type A Behavior Pattern (TABP) and Type D personality (Type D) are constructs primarily related to cardiac patients as they may contribute to the onset, course, and outcome of cardiovascular diseases, but their association with other adverse health outcomes is also noticeable. The aim of this study was to examine the interrelationship between TABP and Type D, as well as their predictive role for general proneness to psychosomatic manifestations. A cross-sectional, correlational study was conducted among 212 healthy volunteers. The correlation analyses showed that there was an association between Impatience-Irritability and Negative affectivity (r = .191**) as components of TABP and Type D, respectively. Furthermore, it was found that both TABP and Type D have a significant percentage of the cumulative variance in the proneness to psychosomatic manifestations, with Type D proving to be a stronger predictor than TABP. Impatience-Irritability (β = .17**), Negative affectivity (β = .56***), and Social inhibition (β =.17**) were distinguished as significant predictors for suggesting an association between negative emotions as components of these constructs and psychosomatic manifestations.