Psychological Reporb, 1970, 67, 235-239.
O Psychological Reports 1970
PARENTAL CHILD-REARING ATTITUDES ASSOCIATED WITH TYPE A BEHAVIORS IN CHILDREN ' KATSUYUKI YAMASAKI Osaka Aoyama Junior Colkge child-rearing attitudes Summary.-The relation of Type A behaviors to was assessed for 177 mothers, 153 fathers, and their children in preschools. Type A behaviors of children were measured on the Japanese version of the Matthews Youth Test for Health (MYTH), and parental child-rearing attitudes were measured on the Parents' Attitudes Test (PAT). Children were dassiFied as Type A and Type B on the basis of their MYTH scores, and parental child-rearing attitudes in the two types were compared in a combination of parental sex (mothers vs fathers) and child's sex (boys vs girls). Analysis showed that especially mothers and fathea of Type A boys had less concern for their children than their peers whose boys were classified as Type B. The notion that boys showing Type A behaviors might develop Type A behavior patterns by striving to obtain more expression of concern or affection from their parents was presented.
A large number of studies have been done on Type A behavior pattern for the past 30 years. Type A behavior pattern, which is one of the factors leading to coronary heart disease (CHD), is characterized by high scores on time urgency, competitive achievement-striving, and aggressiveness-hostility. The high rate of coronary heart disease in the USA seems to have promoted studies on this pattern from a variety of directions. Recently as one of the main trends of these studies, the process by which this behavior pattern is formed has been investigated. Although Type A behaviors are also observed in preschoolers (e.g., Corrigan & Moskowitz, 1983; Matthews & Angulo, 1980), it is not clear whether this behavior pattern in early childhood leads to heart disease after middle age. However, high stability of Type A behavior pattern in childhood (Matthews & Avis, 1983; Visintainer & Matthews, 1987) and positive relations between this behavior and some physiological heart responses of chddren (e.g., Brown & Tanner, 1988) suggest that Type A behavior during childhood is the origin of Type A behavior or coronary heart disease of adults. I n the process of the formation of Type A pattern, it is suggested that family environments, especially parental child-rearing attitudes, are important. For example, Kliewer and Weidner (1987), using 9- to 12-yr.-old children and their parents, found that fathers set high goals for their Type A sons and perceived these goals not to be attained by them. Matthews (1977) found that 8- to 10-yt-old Type A children elicited more pushing and posi'Requests for reprints should be sent to Katsuydu Yamasaki, Department of Children's Education, Osaka Aoyama Junior College, Niina 2-11-1, Minoh, Osaka 562, Japan.
tive task evaluation from Type B caregivers (female strangers). Furthermore, recently Woodall and Matthews (1989) suggest that a less supportive and positively involved family climate is associated with attributes of potential risk of coronary heart disease for children. Some relations between parental child-rearing attitudes and Type A behavior of children have been found. However, such studies are still scarce, and such relations have not been investigated extensively yet, so in the present study the relations between a wide range of parental attitudes and Type A behavior of children were investigated. Taking into account the generally accepted fact that so many factors are associated with the formation of personalities, it is plausible that in addition to the previously noted factors, new parental attitudes influencing the formation of Type A behavior pattern of children would be observed.
Subjects From preschools 129 boys and 121 girls were assessed on Type A behaviors. They were predominantly from middle socioeconomic class f a d e s and ranged in age from 3 to 6 yr. Of the children's f a d e s , 153 fathers and 177 mothers completed and returned the Parents' Attitude Test. So only the Type A scores of their children (one father or mother to one child) were selected, with the result that for fathers, the Type A scores of their 82 boys and 71 girls were included, and for mothers, those of their 93 boys and 84 girls. Questionnaire The MYTH.-The Japanese version of the Matthews Youth Test for Health (Matthews & Angulo, 1980; Yamasaki & Kikuno, in press) was used to assess Type A behaviors of the children. This test was completed by their class teachers (10 women in all) at the preschools. The Parents' Attitude Test.-The Parents' Attitude Test (PAT) by the Tanaka Research Institute of Education was used to assess parental childrearing attitudes. This questionnaire has 100 items and yields 10 measures describing parental attitudes. There are ten measures: negative rejection, positive rejection, strictness, expectation, interference, anxiety, dotage, blind obedience, inconsistency, and disagreement between parents' attitudes. This test was given to the parents through their children, because in Japanese preschools it is very common to have some letters or materials to parents delivered and returned by their children.
RESULTSAND DISCUSSION The mean and median of the MYTH scores of 250 children were 46.7 and 47.0, respectively. Using this median, the children were divided into two types, i.e., Type A (above the median) and Type B (below the median).
PARENTAL CHILD-REARING ATTITUDES. TYPE A BEHAVIOR
23 7
The parents were divided into the following four groups: boys' mothers (called Group BM: 93 mothers, i.e., 93 boys in all; 32 boys of Type A, 41 boys of Type B), girls' mothers (GM: 84 mothers, i.e., 84 girls in all; 40 girls of Type A, 44 girls of Type B), boys' fathers (BF: 82 fathers, i.e., 82 boys in all; 46 boys of Type A, 36 boys of Type B), and girls' fathers (GF: 71 fathers, i.e., 71 girls in all; 31 girls of Type A, 40 girls of Type B). The parents were further divided into two subgroups in each of these four groups, depending on types of their children, i.e., parents of children showing Type A behaviors (Group A) and parents of children showing Type B behaviors (Group B). For each of Subgroups A and B within these four groups, Fig. 1 shows the means of 10 measures of the parents' attitudes. Each measure was expressed in percentiles, indicating that the higher the score, the lower the score on that measure and that SO percentile is the average in general. Statistical analyses using t tests between Groups A and B on each measure show some significant differences.
MEAN PERCENTILE FOR EACH MEASURE
FIG.1. Mean ercentile for each of 10 measures of the Parents' Attitudes Test for Subgroups A and B in Pour parental groups. Note that the higher the score, the lower the degree of the measure (1 negative rejection, 2 ositive rejection, 3 strictness, 4 ex ectation, 5 interfer7 dotage, 8 blind ogedience, 9 inconsistency, and 10 &sagreement between ence, 6 anxie parents' attitu2s ( * p < ,051.
In Group BM (Boys' Mothers), significant differences between Groups A and B were found on three measures, anxiety, dotage, and blind obedience (t,,s = 2.49, 3.18, 3.03, respectively; all ps < .OS). These results indicate that mothers of Type A boys showed lower anxiety about their clddren, less affection toward them, and obedience (compliance) to them than mothers of
238
K. YAMASAKI
Type B boys. That is, it seems that mothers of boys showing Type A behaviors show less concern for their children. In Group BF (BOYS' Fathers), significant differences between the two groups were found on anxiety, dotage, and disagreement (t,, = 2.40, 2.19, 2.92, respectively; all ps < .05). These results show the same tendency as noted in Group BM, except for disagreement. In Group GM (Girls' Mothers), only anxiety showed a significant difference (t,, = 3.07, p < .05), indicating that mothers of Type A girls are less anxious about their children than mothers of Type B girls. In Group GF (Girls' Fathers), there were no significant differences between children in Groups A and B. It seems that fathers' attitudes have no relation to the formation of their daughters' Type A behaviors. According to these results, it should be clarified why these parental child-rearing attitudes are concerned with children's Type A behaviors. Bortner, Rosenman, and Friedman (1970) showed that sons of Type A fathers had higher scores on Type A behaviors than sons of Type B fathers. Furthermore, Matthews and Kranz (1976) showed that Type A scores for mothers and their daughters, and scores on Factor H (Hard-driving) for mothers and their sons were significantly correlated. These results seem to be consistent with the present results. In general, Type As are strongly involved in their own lives, and they are less interested in others (e.g., neglect nonjob activities). So their children might try to elicit more attention from their parents and have confidence about themselves or prove themselves (Price, 1782) by striving to perform well. In this way they might develop Type A behavior patterns. This kind of notion seems to have been presented before (e.g., Friedman & Ulrner, 1784) and to have important meanings in the formation of Type A behaviors, so direct study of this notion should be undertaken. REFERENCES BORTNER, R. W., ROSENMAN, R. H., & FRIEDMAN, M. (1970) Familiar similarity in Pattern A behavior. ]ournal of Chronic Diseases, 23, 39-43. BROWN, M. S., & TANNER,C. (1988) Type A behavior and cardiovascular responsivity in preschools. Nursing Research, 37, 152-191. CORRIGAN, S. A,, & MOSKOWITZ,D. S. (1983) Type A behavior in preschool children: construct validation-evidence for the MYTH. Child Development, 54, 1513-1521. FRIEDMAN,M., & ULMER, D. (1984) Treating Type A behauior and your heart. New York: Fawcett Crest. KLIEWER,W., & WEIDNER,G. (1987) Type A behavior and aspirations: a study of parents' and children's goal setting. Developmenbl Psychology, 23, 204-209. M A ~ E W SK., A. (1977) Caregiver-child interactions and the Type A coronary-prone behavior pattern. Child Development, 48, 1752-1756. ~~ATTHEW K.S A,, , & ANGLILO, (1980) Measurement of the Type A behavior pattern in children: assessment of chihrenls competitiveness, impatience-anger, and aggression. Child Development, 5 1, 466-475. M A r m ~ w s ,K. A,, & A m , N. E. (1983) Stability of overt Type A behaviors in children: results fmm a one-year longitudinal study. Child Development, 54, 1507-1512.
PARENTAL CHILD-REARING ATTITUDES. TYPE A BEHAVIOR
239
MAT~HEWS, K. A,, & KRANTZ,D. S. (1976) Resemblances of twins and their parents in pattern A behavior. Psychosomatic Medicine, 28, 140-144. PRICE,V. A. (1982) Type A behavior pattern: a model for research and practice. New York: Academic Press. VISINTAINER, P., & MAITHEWS, K. A. (1987) Stability of overt Type A behaviors in children: results from a two- and five-year longitudinal study. Child Development, 58, 1586-1591. WOODALL, K. L., & M A ~ W SK., A. (1989) Familial environment associated wich Type A behaviors and psychophysiological responses to stress in children. Health Psychology. 8, 403-426. YAMASAKI,K., & KIKUNO,H. (in press) [A Japanese version of the Type A questiomaue (MYTH) for children.] Japanese lournal of Psychology. (English summary) Accepted July 16, 1990.
O Psychological Reports 1970
PARENTAL CHILD-REARING ATTITUDES ASSOCIATED WITH TYPE A BEHAVIORS IN CHILDREN ' KATSUYUKI YAMASAKI Osaka Aoyama Junior Colkge child-rearing attitudes Summary.-The relation of Type A behaviors to was assessed for 177 mothers, 153 fathers, and their children in preschools. Type A behaviors of children were measured on the Japanese version of the Matthews Youth Test for Health (MYTH), and parental child-rearing attitudes were measured on the Parents' Attitudes Test (PAT). Children were dassiFied as Type A and Type B on the basis of their MYTH scores, and parental child-rearing attitudes in the two types were compared in a combination of parental sex (mothers vs fathers) and child's sex (boys vs girls). Analysis showed that especially mothers and fathea of Type A boys had less concern for their children than their peers whose boys were classified as Type B. The notion that boys showing Type A behaviors might develop Type A behavior patterns by striving to obtain more expression of concern or affection from their parents was presented.
A large number of studies have been done on Type A behavior pattern for the past 30 years. Type A behavior pattern, which is one of the factors leading to coronary heart disease (CHD), is characterized by high scores on time urgency, competitive achievement-striving, and aggressiveness-hostility. The high rate of coronary heart disease in the USA seems to have promoted studies on this pattern from a variety of directions. Recently as one of the main trends of these studies, the process by which this behavior pattern is formed has been investigated. Although Type A behaviors are also observed in preschoolers (e.g., Corrigan & Moskowitz, 1983; Matthews & Angulo, 1980), it is not clear whether this behavior pattern in early childhood leads to heart disease after middle age. However, high stability of Type A behavior pattern in childhood (Matthews & Avis, 1983; Visintainer & Matthews, 1987) and positive relations between this behavior and some physiological heart responses of chddren (e.g., Brown & Tanner, 1988) suggest that Type A behavior during childhood is the origin of Type A behavior or coronary heart disease of adults. I n the process of the formation of Type A pattern, it is suggested that family environments, especially parental child-rearing attitudes, are important. For example, Kliewer and Weidner (1987), using 9- to 12-yr.-old children and their parents, found that fathers set high goals for their Type A sons and perceived these goals not to be attained by them. Matthews (1977) found that 8- to 10-yt-old Type A children elicited more pushing and posi'Requests for reprints should be sent to Katsuydu Yamasaki, Department of Children's Education, Osaka Aoyama Junior College, Niina 2-11-1, Minoh, Osaka 562, Japan.
tive task evaluation from Type B caregivers (female strangers). Furthermore, recently Woodall and Matthews (1989) suggest that a less supportive and positively involved family climate is associated with attributes of potential risk of coronary heart disease for children. Some relations between parental child-rearing attitudes and Type A behavior of children have been found. However, such studies are still scarce, and such relations have not been investigated extensively yet, so in the present study the relations between a wide range of parental attitudes and Type A behavior of children were investigated. Taking into account the generally accepted fact that so many factors are associated with the formation of personalities, it is plausible that in addition to the previously noted factors, new parental attitudes influencing the formation of Type A behavior pattern of children would be observed.
Subjects From preschools 129 boys and 121 girls were assessed on Type A behaviors. They were predominantly from middle socioeconomic class f a d e s and ranged in age from 3 to 6 yr. Of the children's f a d e s , 153 fathers and 177 mothers completed and returned the Parents' Attitude Test. So only the Type A scores of their children (one father or mother to one child) were selected, with the result that for fathers, the Type A scores of their 82 boys and 71 girls were included, and for mothers, those of their 93 boys and 84 girls. Questionnaire The MYTH.-The Japanese version of the Matthews Youth Test for Health (Matthews & Angulo, 1980; Yamasaki & Kikuno, in press) was used to assess Type A behaviors of the children. This test was completed by their class teachers (10 women in all) at the preschools. The Parents' Attitude Test.-The Parents' Attitude Test (PAT) by the Tanaka Research Institute of Education was used to assess parental childrearing attitudes. This questionnaire has 100 items and yields 10 measures describing parental attitudes. There are ten measures: negative rejection, positive rejection, strictness, expectation, interference, anxiety, dotage, blind obedience, inconsistency, and disagreement between parents' attitudes. This test was given to the parents through their children, because in Japanese preschools it is very common to have some letters or materials to parents delivered and returned by their children.
RESULTSAND DISCUSSION The mean and median of the MYTH scores of 250 children were 46.7 and 47.0, respectively. Using this median, the children were divided into two types, i.e., Type A (above the median) and Type B (below the median).
PARENTAL CHILD-REARING ATTITUDES. TYPE A BEHAVIOR
23 7
The parents were divided into the following four groups: boys' mothers (called Group BM: 93 mothers, i.e., 93 boys in all; 32 boys of Type A, 41 boys of Type B), girls' mothers (GM: 84 mothers, i.e., 84 girls in all; 40 girls of Type A, 44 girls of Type B), boys' fathers (BF: 82 fathers, i.e., 82 boys in all; 46 boys of Type A, 36 boys of Type B), and girls' fathers (GF: 71 fathers, i.e., 71 girls in all; 31 girls of Type A, 40 girls of Type B). The parents were further divided into two subgroups in each of these four groups, depending on types of their children, i.e., parents of children showing Type A behaviors (Group A) and parents of children showing Type B behaviors (Group B). For each of Subgroups A and B within these four groups, Fig. 1 shows the means of 10 measures of the parents' attitudes. Each measure was expressed in percentiles, indicating that the higher the score, the lower the score on that measure and that SO percentile is the average in general. Statistical analyses using t tests between Groups A and B on each measure show some significant differences.
MEAN PERCENTILE FOR EACH MEASURE
FIG.1. Mean ercentile for each of 10 measures of the Parents' Attitudes Test for Subgroups A and B in Pour parental groups. Note that the higher the score, the lower the degree of the measure (1 negative rejection, 2 ositive rejection, 3 strictness, 4 ex ectation, 5 interfer7 dotage, 8 blind ogedience, 9 inconsistency, and 10 &sagreement between ence, 6 anxie parents' attitu2s ( * p < ,051.
In Group BM (Boys' Mothers), significant differences between Groups A and B were found on three measures, anxiety, dotage, and blind obedience (t,,s = 2.49, 3.18, 3.03, respectively; all ps < .OS). These results indicate that mothers of Type A boys showed lower anxiety about their clddren, less affection toward them, and obedience (compliance) to them than mothers of
238
K. YAMASAKI
Type B boys. That is, it seems that mothers of boys showing Type A behaviors show less concern for their children. In Group BF (BOYS' Fathers), significant differences between the two groups were found on anxiety, dotage, and disagreement (t,, = 2.40, 2.19, 2.92, respectively; all ps < .05). These results show the same tendency as noted in Group BM, except for disagreement. In Group GM (Girls' Mothers), only anxiety showed a significant difference (t,, = 3.07, p < .05), indicating that mothers of Type A girls are less anxious about their children than mothers of Type B girls. In Group GF (Girls' Fathers), there were no significant differences between children in Groups A and B. It seems that fathers' attitudes have no relation to the formation of their daughters' Type A behaviors. According to these results, it should be clarified why these parental child-rearing attitudes are concerned with children's Type A behaviors. Bortner, Rosenman, and Friedman (1970) showed that sons of Type A fathers had higher scores on Type A behaviors than sons of Type B fathers. Furthermore, Matthews and Kranz (1976) showed that Type A scores for mothers and their daughters, and scores on Factor H (Hard-driving) for mothers and their sons were significantly correlated. These results seem to be consistent with the present results. In general, Type As are strongly involved in their own lives, and they are less interested in others (e.g., neglect nonjob activities). So their children might try to elicit more attention from their parents and have confidence about themselves or prove themselves (Price, 1782) by striving to perform well. In this way they might develop Type A behavior patterns. This kind of notion seems to have been presented before (e.g., Friedman & Ulrner, 1784) and to have important meanings in the formation of Type A behaviors, so direct study of this notion should be undertaken. REFERENCES BORTNER, R. W., ROSENMAN, R. H., & FRIEDMAN, M. (1970) Familiar similarity in Pattern A behavior. ]ournal of Chronic Diseases, 23, 39-43. BROWN, M. S., & TANNER,C. (1988) Type A behavior and cardiovascular responsivity in preschools. Nursing Research, 37, 152-191. CORRIGAN, S. A,, & MOSKOWITZ,D. S. (1983) Type A behavior in preschool children: construct validation-evidence for the MYTH. Child Development, 54, 1513-1521. FRIEDMAN,M., & ULMER, D. (1984) Treating Type A behauior and your heart. New York: Fawcett Crest. KLIEWER,W., & WEIDNER,G. (1987) Type A behavior and aspirations: a study of parents' and children's goal setting. Developmenbl Psychology, 23, 204-209. M A ~ E W SK., A. (1977) Caregiver-child interactions and the Type A coronary-prone behavior pattern. Child Development, 48, 1752-1756. ~~ATTHEW K.S A,, , & ANGLILO, (1980) Measurement of the Type A behavior pattern in children: assessment of chihrenls competitiveness, impatience-anger, and aggression. Child Development, 5 1, 466-475. M A r m ~ w s ,K. A,, & A m , N. E. (1983) Stability of overt Type A behaviors in children: results fmm a one-year longitudinal study. Child Development, 54, 1507-1512.
PARENTAL CHILD-REARING ATTITUDES. TYPE A BEHAVIOR
239
MAT~HEWS, K. A,, & KRANTZ,D. S. (1976) Resemblances of twins and their parents in pattern A behavior. Psychosomatic Medicine, 28, 140-144. PRICE,V. A. (1982) Type A behavior pattern: a model for research and practice. New York: Academic Press. VISINTAINER, P., & MAITHEWS, K. A. (1987) Stability of overt Type A behaviors in children: results from a two- and five-year longitudinal study. Child Development, 58, 1586-1591. WOODALL, K. L., & M A ~ W SK., A. (1989) Familial environment associated wich Type A behaviors and psychophysiological responses to stress in children. Health Psychology. 8, 403-426. YAMASAKI,K., & KIKUNO,H. (in press) [A Japanese version of the Type A questiomaue (MYTH) for children.] Japanese lournal of Psychology. (English summary) Accepted July 16, 1990.
