Trait Hostility Research Articles

Hostility and Perceptions of Support in Ambiguous Social Interactions

The present study investigated whether a social information processing bias contributes to the inverse association between trait hostility and perceived social support. A sample of 104 undergraduates (50 men) completed a measure of hostility and rated videotaped interactions in which a speaker disclosed a problem while a listener reacted ambiguously. Results showed that hostile persons rated listeners as less friendly and socially supportive across six conversations, although the nature of the hostility effect varied by sex, target rated, and manner in which support was assessed. Hostility and target interactively impacted ratings of support and affiliation only for men. At least in part, a social information processing bias could contribute to hostile persons' perceptions of their social networks.

Hostile traits in Bible suicides?

Acta Psychiatrica ScandinavicaVolume 113, Issue 3 p. 237-238 Hostile traits in Bible suicides? Horst J. Koch, Horst J. Koch Neurologische Universitätsklinik am Bezirksklinikum Regensburg Universitätsstrasse 84, 93053 Regensburg, GermanySearch for more papers by this author Horst J. Koch, Horst J. Koch Neurologische Universitätsklinik am Bezirksklinikum Regensburg Universitätsstrasse 84, 93053 Regensburg, GermanySearch for more papers by this author First published: 22 December 2005 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0447.2005.00734.xRead the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL No abstract is available for this article. Volume113, Issue3March 2006Pages 237-238 RelatedInformation

Correlates and Consequences of Exposure to Video Game Violence: Hostile Personality, Empathy, and Aggressive Behavior

Research has shown that exposure to violent video games causes increases in aggression, but the mechanisms of this effect have remained elusive. Also, potential differences in short-term and long-term exposure are not well understood. An initial correlational study shows that video game violence exposure (VVE) is positively correlated with self-reports of aggressive behavior and that this relation is robust to controlling for multiple aspects of personality. A lab experiment showed that individuals low in VVE behave more aggressively after playing a violent video game than after a nonviolent game but that those high in VVE display relatively high levels of aggression regardless of game content. Mediational analyses show that trait hostility, empathy, and hostile perceptions partially account for the VVE effect on aggression. These findings suggest that repeated exposure to video game violence increases aggressive behavior in part via changes in cognitive and personality factors associated with desensitization.

Predicting DUI recidivism: Personality, attitudinal, and behavioral risk factors

Aims To predict DUI recidivism using personality, attitudinal, and behavioral factors. Design We conducted cross-sectional analyses of survey data. Covariance structure modeling was used to identify unique predictors of driving after drinking (DAD), alcohol consumption, and high-risk driving. Participants Two hundred and eighty individuals with multiple DUI convictions, predominately male and Hispanic. Participants were surveyed in the Rio Hondo Courthouse, Los Angeles County, California. Measurements The survey included measures of past year frequency of DAD, socially desirable response bias, sensation seeking, trait hostility, high-risk driving style, alcohol expectancies, and alcohol consumption. Findings DAD was positively related with frequency of drinking and with positive alcohol expectancies. It was negatively associated with socially desirable response bias. Measures of high-risk driving and the personality variables were highly negatively associated with socially desirable response bias. Conclusions Individuals who believe that they are affected positively by alcohol intoxication are not responding to the standard penalties for DUI and persist in driving after drinking. These beliefs may serve as an important point of intervention for programs designed to reduce drunk driving. The current research also suggests that self-report measures of DAD, as well as many hypothesized risk factors, are highly correlated with socially desirable response biases. Failure to control for such biases may be a significant threat to the validity of research in this field.

Hostility, conflict and cardiovascular responses in married couples: a focus on the dyad

This study examined the relations of one's own total trait hostility and one's spouse's hostility as influences on cardiovascular (CV) responses to couple interactions (including conflict discussions) in 45 married couples aged 24-50. Systolic blood pressure and cardiac index (CI) reactivity to conflict discussion and recovery after conflict was greater in low hostile males if they were interacting with high hostile wives (p < .02). Vascular resistance index (VRI) reactivity to interactions was greater in high hostile husbands with high hostile wives (p < .05). Women showed no adverse CV effects of having a hostile spouse when their own hostility was low. Instead, seeming to anticipate the subsequent couple interactions, wives from duos in which both partners were high in hostility had higher baseline VRI levels and lower baseline CI compared to wives from duos in which both were low in hostility (ps < .05), and they simply maintained these group differences with no greater CV reactivity during the interactions. Findings suggest that CV responses before, during, and after marital discussions, particularly those characterized by conflict, may be influenced not only by one's own hostility but by the hostility of one's partner as well.

Violent Video Games Induce an Affect Processing Bias

This study investigated the effects of violent video game play and trait hostility on attentional bias toward negatively valenced words. Following video game play, participants completed an emotional Stroop task. Results indicated greater Stroop interference for participants high in trait hostility and for participants playing violent video games. Implications of these findings are discussed with respect to current models of aggressive behavior.

Association of C-reactive protein elevation with trait aggression and hostility in personality disordered subjects: A pilot study

Objective The presence of personality traits of aggression and hostility, in generally healthy human subjects, has been shown to be associated with elevations of C-reactive protein (pCRP), which, in turn, has also been shown to be associated with an increased risk of cardiac disease. In this pilot study, the author tests the hypothesis that pCRP elevations are associated with the traits of aggression and hostility in personality disordered subjects, a group at high risk for the presence of aggression and hostility. Method Participants were 99 medically healthy subjects meeting DSM-IV criteria for personality disorder for which both pCRP levels and Buss–Durkee Hostility Inventory (BDHI) Aggression and Hostility data were available. Results Subjects with pCRP levels ⩾1.0 mg/L or higher were found to have significantly higher BDHI Aggression and BDHI Hostility scores than subjects with pCRP levels <1.0 mg/L. Addition of a number of control variables reduced, but did not generally eliminate, differences in the BDHI scores. In contrast, measures of general dimensions of personality did not differ as a function of pCRP Status. Conclusions The association of elevations in pCRP level in medically healthy personality disordered subjects with higher scores of trait aggression and hostility suggests the presence of chronic inflammation in highly aggressive/hostile personality disordered subjects similar to that observed in otherwise healthy individuals at risk for coronary artery disease. Further studies are warranted to determine the clinical correlates of this finding.

The Influence of Hostility and Family History of Cardiovascular Disease on Autonomic Activation in Response to Controllable versus Noncontrollable Stress, Anger Imagery Induction, and Relaxation Imagery

Autonomic activation in response to controllable versus noncontrollable stress, anger imagery induction, and relaxation imagery was studied among 80 participants between the ages of 18 and 34 years. Participants differed in level of trait hostility and family history of cardiovascular disease. Results were obtained through power spectral analyses of electrocardiograph R-R intervals, which produced an index of autonomic nervous system activation. For both male and female populations, parasympathetic regulation was diminished during anger induction for individuals with high levels of trait hostility and having a family history of cardiovascular disease. Similar results were obtained for women during the uncontrolled stress condition. Based on family history of cardiovascular disease and trait hostility, men responded differentially to relaxation imagery induction, whereas no differences were found among females.

African-American adolescents’ stress responses after the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks

Purpose To examine the impact of indirect exposure to the 9/11/01 attacks upon physical and emotional stress-related responses in a community sample of African-American (AA) adolescents. Methods Three months after the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks, 406 AA adolescents (mean age [SD] of 16.1 ± 1.3 years) from an inner-city high school in Augusta, GA were evaluated with a 12-item 5-point Likert scale measuring loss of psychosocial resources (PRS) such as control, hope, optimism, and perceived support, a 17-item 5-point Likert scale measuring post-traumatic stress symptomatology (PCL), and measures of state and trait anger, anger expression, and hostility. Given the observational nature of the study, statistical differences and correlations were evaluated for effect size before statistical testing (5% minimum variance explained). Bootstrapping was used for testing mean differences and differences between correlations. Results PCL scores indicated that approximately 10% of the sample was experiencing probable clinically significant levels of post-traumatic distress (PCL score > 50). The PCL and PRS were moderately correlated with a r = .59. Gender differences for the PCL and PRS were small, accounting for 1% of the total variance. Higher PCL scores were associated with higher state anger ( r = .47), as well as measures of anger-out ( r = .32) and trait anger ( r = .34). Higher PRS scores were associated only with higher state anger ( r = .27). Scores on the two 9/11/01-related scales were not statistically associated (i.e., less than 5% of the variance explained) with traits of anger control, anger-in, or hostility. Conclusions The majority of students were not overly stressed by indirect exposure to the events of 9/11/01, perhaps owing to the temporal, social, and/or geographical distance from the event. Those who reported greater negative impact appeared to also be experiencing higher levels of current anger and exhibited a characterologic style of higher overt anger expression.

The importance of examining blood pressure reactivity and recovery in anger provocation research

Objective We investigated the moderating relationship of hostility on emotional and physiological arousal due to acute anger provocation; stress reactivity and recovery were measured. Method Forty-five participants completed a measure of trait hostility (CMHQ) and performed a mental arithmetic (serial 7s) task while receiving scripted comments at set intervals designed to provoke anger (harassment). The impact of trait hostility (high, medium or low) on arousal and recovery was examined. Results Participants low in self-reported hostility showed greater HR reactivity to the task but recovered quickly. Participants high in hostility showed noticeably slower recovery in SBP maintained after task completion. Conclusions The findings underscore the importance of examining both reactivity and recovery data in anger provocation research because the apparent influence of trait hostility on cardiovascular functioning would have been missed if recovery had not been systematically studied.

Hostility and perceived social support: interactive effects on cardiovascular reactivity to laboratory stressors

Previous research has identified trait hostility and social isolation as possible psychosocial risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD). However, few studies have examined hostility and social support simultaneously to determine their independent and possible interactive relations with CHD and disease-promoting mechanisms. Hypotheses derived from a general interpersonal model were tested in a study examining trait hostility and perceived social support as predictors of cardiovascular reactivity to laboratory stressors. Healthy college students (53 men, 55 women) performed speech and mental arithmetic tasks while blood pressure and heart rate were monitored. There was an interactive effect of hostility and perceived social support on systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP) reactivity. Higher hostility scores were associated with greater SBP reactivity for participants who were high in perceived social support; whereas for those with low social support scores, greater hostility was associated with somewhat less SBP reactivity. The same pattern was obtained for DBP, but only during the speech task. These findings encourage further research conceptualizing trait hostility within a general interpersonal framework that calls attention to both positive and negative person-environment transactions.

Hostility, Anger, Aggressiveness, and Coronary Heart Disease: An Interpersonal Perspective on Personality, Emotion, and Health

The related traits of hostility, anger, and aggressiveness have long been suggested as risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD). Our prior review of this literature (Smith, 1992) found both considerable evidence in support of this hypothesis and important limitations that precluded firm conclusions. In the present review, we discuss recent research on the assessment of these traits, their association with CHD and longevity, and mechanisms possibly underlying the association. In doing so, we illustrate the value of the interpersonal tradition in personality psychology (Sullivan, 1953; Leary, 1957; Carson, 1969; Kiesler, 1996) for not only research on the health consequences of hostility, anger, and aggressiveness, but also for the general study of the effects of emotion, personality and other psychosocial characteristics on physical health.

Hostility in smokers with past major depressive disorder: Relation to smoking patterns, reasons for quitting, and cessation outcomes

We examined trait hostility in 85 participants in a clinical trial of cessation treatment for smokers with a history of major depressive disorder. Consistent with hypotheses, trait hostility, as indexed by the Cook-Medley Hostility Scale, was associated with greater smoking in social situations, greater expectations of being evaluated negatively by others because of smoking, and stronger extrinsic social reasons for quitting. Greater hostility was associated with significantly lower odds of smoking abstinence after treatment. Hostility was not associated significantly with smoking to manage negative affect, nor did it predict change in negative mood during treatment. Results suggest hostility may play an important role in smoking motivation and cessation outcomes among smokers with past major depression.

The Influence of Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Hostility on Cardiovascular Reactivity to Mental Stress

0612 The personality trait of hostility has recently been linked to an impressive range of cardiovascular risk factors including hypertension, engagement in healthcompromising behaviors, exaggerated cardiovascular responses to stress, and coronary artery disease. The influence of cardiorespiratory fitness on individuals varying in hostility has not yet been investigated. PURPOSE: This study examined the effects of cardiorespiratory fitness and trait hostility on psychophysiological stress responses in college-aged individuals. METHODS: Participants completed a maximal treadmill test for the determination of maximal oxygen consumption and on a subsequent day completed a laboratory-based stress reactivity protocol. This protocol consisted of a 6-min verbal serial subtraction task and a 6-min interpersonal speech. Measures of heart rate, heart rate variability, systolic blood pressure, and diastolic blood pressure were assessed during baseline, stress, and recovery periods. Participants also completed the Cook-Medley hostility scale along with measures of state anxiety and perceived difficulty following each mental stress task. RESULTS: Participants reporting high hostility displayed significantly greater heart rate and diastolic blood pressure responses to the serial subtraction task compared to low hostile individuals (P < .05). Highly fit individuals experienced reduced cardiovascular responses to stress than lower fit individuals (P < .05) even though these groups did not differ on hostility. CONCLUSION: These findings confirm that cardiorespiratory fitness and trait hostility both influence cardiovascular responses to mental stress. Future research investigating the relationship between exercise and/or fitness on stress reactivity should consider personality characteristics that may influence individuals' responses to psychosocial stress.

Hostility differentiates the brain metabolic effects of nicotine

The brain mechanisms underlying the cause of nicotine dependence are unknown, however, hostility traits are associated with increased susceptibility to nicotine dependence. We used FDG PET to measure brain metabolic response to nicotine administered by patch while the subject performed the Bushman aggression task in 86 high- and low-hostility subjects. Low-hostility trait subjects demonstrated no significant change in brain metabolic response to nicotine. In marked contrast, high-hostility non-smokers subjects demonstrated dramatic metabolic changes to low dose (3.5 mg patch) as did high-hostility smokers to high dose nicotine (21 mg patch) throughout the brain bilaterally ( p<0.025). Correlational analyses demonstrated greater metabolic changes in response to nicotine in subjects with greatest hostility trait measures. The observed differences were not a consequence of plasma nicotine or cotinine levels. These metabolic changes were not observed when subjects performed a sustained attentional task (continuous performance task; CPT). Behaviorally, high-hostility subjects had higher ratings of anger, impatience, irritability and nervousness, and lower ratings of happiness, relaxation and curiosity than low-hostility subjects. Smokers had significantly greater scores on impatience and restlessness than non-smokers. This PET study demonstrates a conspicuous lack of the brain metabolic response to nicotine in low-hostility non-smokers in contrast to a dramatic brain response to nicotine in high hostility subjects. This biological difference in brain metabolic response to nicotine between high and low hostility trait subjects may explain differences in susceptibility to nicotine dependence.

Psychosocial factors in outcomes of heart surgery: the impact of religious involvement and depressive symptoms.

This article reports a prospective study of religiousness and recovery from heart surgery. Religiousness and other psychosocial factors were assessed in 142 patients about a week prior to surgery. Those with stronger religious beliefs subsequently had fewer complications and shorter hospital stays, the former effect mediating the latter. Attendance at religious services was unrelated to complications but predicted longer hospitalizations. Prayer was not related to recovery. Depressive symptoms were associated with longer hospital stays. Dispositional optimism, trait hostility, and social support were unrelated to outcomes. Effects of religious beliefs and attendance were stronger among women than men and were independent of biomedical and other psychosocial predictors. These findings encourage further examination of differential health effects of the various elements of religiousness.

Mood Changes Associated with Iyengar Yoga Practices: A Pilot Study

The main objectives of this study were 1) to examine changes in self-reported moods and emotional states from before to after Iyengar Yoga classes and how they are affected by the practice of different types of Yoga poses and (2) to determine whether observed changes in mood depend on one's personality traits. The participants were 11 healthy Yoga students in a nine-session Yoga course in which three different types of Yoga poses were compared: back bends, forward bends, and standing poses. Each 90-minute class focused on one of the three types of poses with three repetitions of each type of class. Self-ratings of 15 moods dealing with positive,negative, and energy-related emotional states were obtained before and after each class. Personality traits of depression, anxiety, and hostility were assessed at an initial orientation. Independently of the specific pose,positive moods increased, negative moods decreased,and energy-related moods increased from before to after classes with most changes lasting for two hours. Specific poses resulted in differences in how moods were affected,with back bends associated with greater increases in positive moods. Some mood changes were dependent on one's characteristic personality traits. The positive mood effects of back bends were greater for participants who were relatively hostile or depressed. The specific and nonspecific effects of different bodily postures and movements on psychological processes in Yoga and other forms of physical activity deserve further study. Yoga practices should be investigated for their potential clinical application in mood disorders and depression.

Hostility, interpersonal interactions, and ambulatory blood pressure.

This study examined aspects of the transactional model of hostility and health by investigating relationships among hostility, interpersonal interactions, and ambulatory blood pressure in a healthy community sample. Participants included 65 female and 39 male healthy adults between the ages of 18 and 46 years. Ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) and diary data on mood and social interactions were obtained every 20 minutes for 1 day. Mixed models regression analyses were used to evaluate the relationships among hostility, interpersonal interactions, and ABP. Trait hostility was positively associated with the frequency and intensity of negative interactions and was negatively associated with the frequency and intensity of positive interactions. Interacting with others was associated with increases in systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP). The magnitude of the increase in blood pressure was positively associated with the degree to which the interaction was perceived as negative. Hostility was not directly associated with ABP/heart rate (HR) or ABP/HR responses during any interactions or negative interactions. However, there was an interaction between hostility and negative interaction intensity for DBP, suggesting that hostility moderates the effects of negative interactions on DBP. Specifically, increases in the intensity of negative interactions were associated with increases in DBP for participants with high, but not low, hostility. The results provide partial support for the notion that hostility may be associated with risk for cardiovascular disease through its effects on interpersonal interactions and their cardiovascular correlates.

Effects of mental stress on flow-mediated brachial arterial dilation and influence of behavioral factors and hypercholesterolemia in subjects without cardiovascular disease

Mental and emotional arousal are known to trigger coronary events. The relation between hypercholesterolemia, behavioral factors, and mental stress-induced alterations in endothelial function are not well defined. Flow-mediated brachial arterial vasodilation has been established as a measure of arterial endothelial function. High-resolution ultrasound was used to measure mental stress-mediated, flow-mediated, and the combination of mental stress- and flow-mediated brachial artery dilation in 38 subjects, 20 of whom had total cholesterol levels ≥200 mg/dl. Mental stress was provoked by anger recall and mental arithmetic and trait hostility were assessed using the Cook-Medley scale. Under mental stress, participants with hypercholesterolemia showed less vasodilation than participants without hypercholesterolemia, even after adjustment for age and the magnitude of blood pressure response to mental stress. Mental stress attenuated flow-mediated brachial arterial vasodilation. There was an inverse relation between hostile affect and percent change in brachial artery diameter after mental stress combined with hyperemia (r = −0.57, p <0.001). Thus, hypercholesterolemia is associated with impaired vasodilation in response to mental stress. Mental stress inhibits flow-mediated vasodilation in normal subjects and those with hypercholesterolemia. The magnitude of this inhibition is associated with hostility.

Cardiovascular reactivity of Singaporean male police officers as a function of task, ethnicity and hostility

Objective: This research examined hemodynamic processes in cardiovascular reactivity (CVR) as a function of task, ethnicity and trait hostility. Method: One hundred and fourteen male patrol officers from the Singapore Police Force participated in this experimental study. Trait hostility was measured using the interpersonal hostility assessment technique to derive a hostile behavior index (HBI). Heart rate, blood pressure and hemodynamic measures were taken while participants performed three tasks: mental arithmetic, number reading and anger recall (AR). Results: AR elicited the greatest blood pressure, vascular and cardiac output reactivity. HBI scores were positively related to systolic blood pressure reactivity during AR for Malays whereas this was not true for Indians and Chinese. Across tasks Indians with high HBI scores appeared to be cardiac reactors whereas the reactivity patterns for Malays and Chinese were undifferentiated. Self-report of negative mood was not related to CVR. Conclusion: These results are consistent with the higher rates of coronary heart disease deaths among Indians as well as the higher rates for hypertension among Malays in Singapore.