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Psychology & Health
Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/gpsh20 Type a behaviour, social contact and coronary death a a

John Spicer , Rodney Jackson & Robert Scragg

b

a

Department of Psychology , Massey University , Palmerston North,
New Zealand b Department of Community Health , University of Auckland School of Medicine , Auckland, New Zealand
Published online: 19 Dec 2007.

To cite this article: John Spicer , Rodney Jackson & Robert Scragg (1996) Type a behaviour, social contact and coronary death, Psychology & Health, 11:5, 733-743, DOI: 10.1080/08870449608405001
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08870449608405001

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Psychology and Health, 1995, Vol. 11, pp. 733-743
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TYPE A BEHAVIOUR, SOCIAL CONTACT
ANDCORONARYDEATH

Downloaded by [Charles Sturt University] at 05:47 09 August 2014

JOHN SPICER', RODNEY JACKSON and ROBERT SCRAGG

'Department of Psychology, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand and
Department of Community Health, University of Auckland School of Medicine,
Auckland, New Zealand
(Received 9 October, 1994; in final form 13 February, 1995)
The risk of coronary death associated with Type A behaviour (Framingham definition) and social contact was examined using a retrospective case-control design. Logistic regression analysis of 134 male cases and 339 controls showed that increased risk was associated with Type B behaviour, and independently with limited social contact. Discussion focuses on issues surrounding the use of retrospective, proxy data; and on the speculation that Type A behaviour may increase risk of non-fatal coronary events, but protect against coronary death.

KEY WORDS: Type A behaviour, social contact, coronary death.

INTRODUCTION
Many studies have been published on the association between Type A behaviour (TAB) and the non-fatal manifestations of coronary heart disease (CHD): myocardial infarction (MI) and angina. The findings are mixed and controversial, but are generally interpreted as showing that at least some aspects of the pattern, notably hostility and hard-driving competitiveness, increase non-fatal CHD risk in healthy populations (e.g.