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Hostility and Health

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Handbook of Behavioral Medicine

Abstract

Hostility has long been thought to play a role in health, and recent research has now documented substantial effects on disease etiology, with much of the attention given to its role in cardiovascular disease. Several measures of this construct have been found to predict adverse cardiovascular events as well as cardiac and total mortality. It is apparent, however, that the hostility construct has multiple aspects, including cynical and suspicious attitudes, various negative emotions, and antagonistic behavior patterns. Interpersonal experiences, such as child rearing patterns and adult adversity in combination with physiological and genetic factors, influence the development of these tendencies. The links to physical health appear to involve several processes such as enhanced autonomic reactivity and altered glucose metabolism that are the product of the stress associated with antagonistic experiences. In addition, high hostility is associated with a lifestyle that produces an adverse risk factor pattern. There is promising evidence in clinical samples suggesting that interventions based on coping skills training may be able to improve health through the reduction of these hostile tendencies.

Disclosure: Redford Williams is a founder and major stockholder in Williams LifeSkills, Inc., a company that develops, tests, and markets behavioral interventions that target psychosocial risk factors. Redford Williams holds a U.S. patent on the use of the 5HTTLPR L allele as a marker of increased CVD risk in persons exposed to chronic stress.

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Acknowledgement

This work was supported by National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute grant P01HL36587 (RBW), Clinical Research Unit grant M01RR30, RO1 HL54780 and the Duke University Behavioral Medicine Research Center.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Duke University Medical Center, Box 2969, Durham, NC, 27710, USA

    John C. Barefoot (Research Professor)

  2. Behavioral Medicine Research Center, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, Box 3926, Durham, NC, 27710, USA

    Redford B. Williams (Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Director)

Authors
  1. John C. Barefoot
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  2. Redford B. Williams
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Correspondence to John C. Barefoot .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. St Georges Hospital Medical School, Dept. Psychology, University of London, Cranmer Terrace, London, SW17 0RE, United Kingdom

    A. Steptoe

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Barefoot, J.C., Williams, R.B. (2010). Hostility and Health. In: Steptoe, A. (eds) Handbook of Behavioral Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09488-5_13

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