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Age- and Cohort-Related Variance of Type-A Behavior Over 24 Years: the Young Finns Study

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Abstract

Background

Over the recent decades, the incidence of cardiovascular and heart diseases has decreased while levels of type-A behavior, i.e., a potential risk factor, appear to have increased. However, the long-term developmental patterns of type-A behavior is poorly understood. Both age- and cohort-related changes may be involved in these developments.

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to examine an age- and cohort-related changes of Hunter-Wolf type-A behavior from adolescence to adulthood.

Methods

Type-A behavior and its components (aggressiveness, leadership, hard driving, and eagerness energy) were assessed using the Hunter-Wolf A-B rating scale at five time points (1983, 1986, 1989, 2001, and 2007) in a population-based sample consisting of six birth cohorts born between 1962 and 1977 (n = 3,341, a total of 10,506 person observations). Development of type-A behavior and its components was examined with cohort-sequential multilevel modeling.

Results

Aggressiveness decreased with age, eagerness energy, hard driving, and global type-A behavior increased, and leadership exhibited no mean level changes. Younger cohorts had higher aggressiveness, lower hard driving, and global type-A behavior.

Conclusions

The findings suggest that in order to understand the health consequences of type-A behavior, both life span and societal changes should be considered.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IBS, Department of Personality, Work and Health Psychology, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 9, 00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Taina Hintsa, Markus Jokela, Laura Pulkki-Råback & Liisa Keltikangas-Järvinen

Authors
  1. Taina Hintsa
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  2. Markus Jokela
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  3. Laura Pulkki-Råback
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  4. Liisa Keltikangas-Järvinen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Taina Hintsa.

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Author Note

This study has been supported by the Academy of Finland (grants 209514, 111056, and 124399), Signe and Ane Gyllenberg’s Foundation, Yrjö Jahnsson’s Foundation (LKJ), and The Finnish Cultural Foundation, and Academy of Finland (grant 113729) (TH); and The Juho Vainio Foundation (LPR)

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Supplementary table 5

Type-A behavior predicting the probability of not participating in the next study wave odds ratios OR (95 % CI). (DOC 68 kb)

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Hintsa, T., Jokela, M., Pulkki-Råback, L. et al. Age- and Cohort-Related Variance of Type-A Behavior Over 24 Years: the Young Finns Study. Int.J. Behav. Med. 21, 927–935 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-013-9369-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-013-9369-z

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