The Framingham type A scale, vigilant coping, and heart-rate reactivity

Forty-eight subjects, approximately half of whom were male and half female, took part in an experiment designed to measure coping-strategy choice and heart-rate reactivity in the face of an electric shock threat. All subjects completed, in addition, the Framingham Type A scale and other Framingham psychosocial scales measuring anger expression and emotional lability. Among female subjects, Type A was ex hypothesi associated with choice of a vigilant, predictability-seeking coping style. Type A was also ex hypothesi associated with greater heart-rate reactivity. Among males, the Type A scale did not predict either coping-strategy choice or heart-rate reactivity. Vigilant coping was associated with suppressed anger in both sexes. Results are discussed with reference to a wider body of research on Type A behavior pattern and coronary heart disease.