Components of Type A behavior pattern and occupational stressor-strain relationship: testing different models in a sample of industrial managers

Abstract

The authors analyzed empirically the roles of impatience-irritability and ambition-energy components of the Type A behavior pattern (TABP) in the occupational stressor-strain relationship. They tested three models, using a sample of 659 industrial managers to determine whether the TABP components affected strain independently from perceived stressors (the direct effects model); or indirectly, by moderating effects of perceived stressors (the moderated effects model); or whether perceived stressors provoked TABP components, which influenced the number of strain symptoms (the mediated effects model). Multiple regression procedures showed, as expected, that the two TABP components acted quite differently in the stress process. With the direct effects model, the impatience-irritability component consistently increased numbers of psychological and physiological symptoms, regardless of perceived occupational stressors. The ambition-energy component, on the other hand, was activated by an abundance of development possibilities experienced at work. This, in turn, partly explained the decrease in perceived levels of psychological and physiological symptoms. The results relating to the ambition-energy component supported the mediated effects model and demonstrated a positive effect on subjective health perceptions.