Efforts to control by children and adults with the type A coronary-prone behavior pattern

Glass and his colleagues have suggested that the type A coronary-prone behavior pattern, which is characterized by competitiveness, aggressiveness, and impatience, is a response style aimed at maintaining and asserting control over poentially uncontrollable events. The present investigation examined the initial reactions of type A and type B boys and men to uncontrollable events. Children and adults pressed a button to earn nickels on one of the following schedules of reinforcement: a variable ratio of 7 or a fixed ratio of 7. The variable ratio schedule was assumed to appear less controllable than the fixed ratio schedule. The task was either of high or low salience (prominence). Results replicated previous research that type A's initially respond to highly salient uncontrollable events with more vigorous efforts to assert control than type B's. More importantly, the findings provided the first evidence that (1) the initial response to loss of control of type A and type B boys parallels that of their adult counterparts; and (2) the boys' response to the salience of the task is similar to that of their adult counterparts. Implications of the children's responses to uncontrollable events for the maintenance of type A behavior into adulthood and for the etiology of heart disease are discussed.