Type A behavior: a longitudinal study from childhood to adulthood.

In a longitudinal study of a sample of Swedish males and females (n = 170), Type A-related behavior at age 13 was related to the scores on an abbreviated Type A scale based on JAS which was administered when the same subjects were 27 years old. Aggression, Motor Hyperactivity, Overambition, and Overachievement measured at age 13 were used as predictors in a multiple regression analysis, with Type A score at age 27 as the dependent variable. The following results were obtained: 1) for men the multiple correlation was 0.41 (p less than 0.01), with Aggression and Overambition accounting for most of the prediction, and b) for women the multiple correlation was 0.36 (p less than 0.05), with Motor Hyperactivity accounting for most of the prediction. It was concluded that Type A-related behavior could be identified rather early and that it shows an unexpected degree of stability over a period of 14 years.