Type a Behaviour in the Australian Working Population

Abstract

The Type A behaviour pattern (TABP) has been widely researched in Australian studies and, in view of its increasing prominence beyond its original association with risk of coronary heart disease, is likely to be as widely researched in this country well into the future. The Jenkins Activity Survey (JAS), being the most comprehensive self-report instrument used to assess the TABP, appears to be the instrument of choice for the measurement of the TABP in Australia, particularly in epidemiological studies where large samples are involved, or in other studies where either the interview method is impractical or the researchers are untrained in its application. This paper presents normative data on the use of the JAS in the Australian context, derived from a series of empirical studies undertaken by the authors over the past decade. Sociodemographic correlates of these data are presented, and refinements of the JAS for future use are suggested.

Correlates of type a behaviour among professionals

“…Married respondents tended to have higher scores on the Type A measure. This is in accordance with the findings of Byrne and Reinhart (1995).…”

“…(1990). The opposite result was obtained in several other studies (Burke, 1983;Sorenson et al, 1987;Wiegele and Dots, 1990;Greenglass, 1993;Byrne and Reinhart, 1995). The possibility of confounding variables, like differences in the composition of samples, influencing the results of studies must be considered in coming to a conclusion in this regard.…”

“…In later work the relationship between Type A behaviour and a large number of other variables was examined. Among them were demographic variables like age (Friedman & Rosenman, 1974;Blumenthal & Herman, 1985;Helman, 1987;Byrne & Reinhart, 1990;Jamal & Baba, 1991), gender (Burke, 1983;Cox, 1983;Forshaw, 1984 Greenglass, 1993;Byrne & Reinhart, 1995), marital status (Jamal & Baba, 1991;Byrne & Reinhart, 1995), home language (Cox, 1983;Swanepoel, 1984;Jamal & Baba, 1991;Striimpfer, 1993), occupation (Jamal & Baba, 1991;Byrne & Reinhart, 1995;Striimpfer, 1995), employment situation (Striimpfer, 1993;Begley, 1995), number of years worked (Chusmir & Hood, 1988), urban/rural background (Jamal, 1985).…”