The A type behaviour pattern, mental health and health locus of control beliefs

Despite the fact that a considerable amount of research has considered the relationship between A type behaviours and specific aspects of physical health few studies have looked at the relationship between A type behaviours, mental health and health beliefs. This study set out to determine the relationship between type A behaviours, psychological disturbance and various health locus of control beliefs in a heterogeneous population. It was hypothesized that although A type individuals would have higher disturbance scores, they would have higher internal locus of control beliefs across all subscale scores. The results showed that A type individuals had significantly higher mental distress scores than B types, however there was no relationship between health locus of control beliefs and the A type behaviour pattern. The findings are discussed in terms of the coping strategies of the A type individual.