A comparison of type a behaviour pattern, hostility and typus melancholicus in Japanese and American students: Effects of defensiveness

Abstract

A comparison of Type A behaviour pattern, hostility and Typus Melancholicus (TM) was examined in a sample of 228 Japanese and 121 American college students. It was found that: the Japanese students expressed Type A, especially hostility, less strongly than American ones; TM was seen to the same degree in both Japanese and American students; Type A was related to hostility and TM in both groups of students; and compared with American students, the Japanese students displayed the defensiveness more frequently, and there appeared to be a strong relationship between defensiveness and hostility. These results suggest the possibility that hostility, a component element of Type A, is manifested under the influence of defensiveness, which is partially related to a variety of different sociocultural contexts. © 1993, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.