The health-behavior model proposes that hostile people are at increased risk for illness partly due to their daily habits. People with high scores on the Ho scale are correlated with reports of less physical activity, less self-care, smoking and increased alcohol consumption and/or drinking and driving. Distrust of health professionals is found to be an additional health-related behavior; hostile people may avoid seeking medical treatment which could be life threatening. This attitude may lead to poor adherence to prescribed treatments. Antagonistic interpersonal styles of relating can also result in a lessor quality of health care received.
Psychosocial factors include a hostility-related life-style. Those people with higher hostility may have higher degrees of stress and less social support. High scores on the Ho scale are associated with reports of less quality and quantity of social support and less satisfaction with social support. These individuals also report greater levels of f
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