RELATIONSHIP OF TRAIT, TYPE-A BEHAVIOR, AND PHYSICAL-FITNESS VARIABLES TO CARDIOVASCULAR REACTIVITY AND CORONARY HEART-DISEASE RISK POTENTIAL

Purpose. This research investigated the effects of individual characte ristics on cardiovascular reactivity, and in turn on the potential for developing coronary heart disease. Design. Path analysis was performe d using LISREL, a structural equation modeling program providing maxim um likelihood estimators and goodness-of-fit measures. Setting. Data w ere collected during a health assessment program, from participants at tending a Department of Defense senior service school. Subjects. Parti cipants were 134 senior-ranking male military and civilian employee vo lunteers, representing approximately 84% of all students in training. Measures. Five individual characteristics, four measures of cardiovasc ular reactivity, and one coronary heart disease risk potential variabl e were investigated. These included Physical Fitness, Type A behavior Trait Anger and Trait Anxiety, Diastolic and Systolic Blood Pressure m easures, and Coronary Heart Disease Risk. Results. Significant path co efficients (critical ratios > 2) indicated that the mean diastolic blo od pressure under a video stress condition was predictive of increased potential of developing coronary heart disease (.51), while hard driv ing Type A behavior was a cardiovascular reactivity antecedent associa ted with an increase in coronary heart disease risk directly (.14) and indirectly (.39). Physical fitness, on the other hand, had a positive affect in that increased fitness was related to lower cardiovascular reactivity when participants were stressed (-.58). Conclusions. Physic al fitness is indirectly beneficial in reducing coronary heart disease risk potential by reducing an individual's diastolic blood pressure r esponse, while scoring high as a Type A Hard Driving personality incre ases cardiovascular reactivity and coronary heart disease risk. This s tudy is limited to middle-aged males who were generally healthy and di splayed concern for their health.