sons at risk for cardiovascular and other diseases. A commonly used measure of hostility is the Cook and Medley Hostility (Ho) scale. Three studies have found associations between Ho scores and health; three similar studies failed to replicate this finding.
Hostility is viewed as an attitudinal variable. Studies provide evidence of a hostile cognitive style. High scores on the Ho scale are found to be associated with frequency of angry and suspicious thoughts during daily activities. Hostile people maintain a "hostile other" schema, which influences their perception of others and their processing of social information. Studies show that hostile persons are more likely to show aggressive behavior.
Four models are used to evaluate possible mechanisms underlying the association of hostility to the risk of disease. The psychophysiological reactivity model proposes that hostility increases physiological responses to stressors; hostile persons experience more frequent and extreme episodes of anger and are in a state of vigilant observation. Anger and vigilance are associated with elevated levels of cardiovascular and neuroendocrine responses which may contribute to the development of disease. Tests measuring cardiovascular responses of those with high and low Ho scores, working on a stressful task under hostile conditions, demonstrated increases in blood pressure. The psychosocial vulnerability model links hostility and health through interpersonal correlates of hostility. High scores on the Ho scale are related to fewer and less satisfactory social supports. Hostile people report interpersonal conflict. The transactional model claims that the a reciprocal relationship between the cognitive and behavioral associations of hostility and the social environment exists; the individual, with typical hostile beliefs and expectations about others, is likely to behave disagreeably and elicit similar behaviors from others.
The ...