Age-related changes in behavioral components in relation to changes in global Type A behavior.

The current study is one of a series of studies undertaken to investigate long-term changes of the Type A behavior pattern (TABP) in surviving subjects of the Western Collaborative Group Study. Behavioral components were scored for 565 Structured Interviews (SI) of returning subjects using a recently developed methodology. Scores were compared with component ratings from the 1960-1961 intake interviews to isolate specific elements of change and evaluate their magnitude in relation to changes in global TABP. Test-retest correlations for seven behavioral components of the SI support the notion of moderate stability ranging in value from .29 to .55. Significant mean changes in component scores were observed for Type A Content, Exactingness, Competitiveness, and Hostility. Changes in Competitiveness and Hostility were Type A dependent, showing reliable increases in Type A subjects but not in Type B subjects. The observed changes in Hostility, Competitiveness, and Exactingness support the overall change in the Type A direction observed in previous analyses of these data.