Stress and Personality
Stress harms certain people while causing others to thrive. What may be an overload of stress for one person may not be for another. Researchers have found two behavior patterns related to the "fit" between the person and his psychological environment. The Type A person is characterized primarily by excessive drive, aggressiveness, ambition, involvement in competitive activities, frequent vocational deadlines, pre:;sure for vocational productivity, and an enhanced sense of time urgency.
Type B, the converse pattern, is characterized by the relative absence of the interplay of psychological traits and situational pressures. The Type B subject is more relaxed and more easygoing, seldom becomes impatient, and takes more time to enjoy avocational pursuits. He is not easily irritated and works steadily, but without a feeling of being driven by a lack of time. He is not preoccupied with social achievement, and is less competitive in his occupational anu avocational pursuits.
The Type A person is likely to overload himself; the Type B person is not. This "role overload," as it is called, which requires a person to do more than he is able in the time available, is related to coronary disease and to job satisfaction. For example, the Type A person has been found to have significantly higher blood cholesterol levels than the Type B person with the same diet. Research data strongly indicate also that "striving without joy" may lead to an increased risk of coronary disease. These data are based upon three separate studies involving various occupational groups where mortality ratios due to coronary heart disease and levels of job satisfaction were correlated. The subjects included professors, scientists, managers, journalists, workers, and other occupational groups. The studies imply that the ability to adjust to stress seems related to personality factors. One indication of how we individually react to stress relates to what we worry about and when. One individual may worry considerably before he makes some decision; another person may worry afterward. And, of course, there are those of us who worry most of the time.
