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PubMed2000

Gender differences in hostility of opioid-dependent outpatients: role in early treatment termination.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate gender differences in hostility and the role of hostility in predicting early treatment termination of opioid-dependent outpatients. Demographic characteristics and Addiction Severity Index (ASI) ratings were collected from 104 patients (68 males and 36 females) at intake to a buprenorphine treatment program. Hostility was assessed using the Buss-Durkee Hostility Scale. Compared to male opioid-dependent patients, females scored significantly higher on this scale. Early treatment termination was defined as remaining in treatment < 30 days, and 13% percent of males and 25% of females were classified as early terminators. Stepwise logistic regression identified predictors of early treatment termination. Severity of legal and employment problems and the interaction between hostility and gender predicted early treatment termination status. Patients with less severe legal problems and patients with greater employment problems were more likely to terminate early from treatment. Higher levels of hostility predicted early treatment termination of female patients, but hostility levels were not associated with treatment termination in male patients. Results from this study show that female heroin addicts have high levels of hostility and suggest that hostility may be an important predictor of premature discharge from opioid substitution programs, especially among women.

Adult↗

PubMed2000

Relationships between hostility and physiological coronary heart disease risk factors in young adults: the moderating influence of depressive tendencies.

BACKGROUND: We examined whether the relationships between hostility and physiological coronary heart disease (CHD) risk factors differ as a function of depressive tendencies (DT). METHODS: The participants were 672 randomly selected healthy young adults who self-reported their hostility (anger, cynicism, and paranoia) and DT. The physiological CHD risk factors studied were systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, body-mass index, serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and serum triglycerides. RESULTS: We found that hostility was negatively associated with the physiological CHD risk factors among individuals exhibiting high DT while hostility was positively associated with, or unrelated to, the physiological risk factors among individuals showing low DT. The Hostility x DT interaction explained 2 to 5 % of the variance in the physiological parameters. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that DT have a moderating influence on the relationships between hostility and CHD risk. Despite the established risk factor status of hostility, lack of anger and hostility, when combined with high DT, may represent the most severe exhaustion where the individual has given up. Disregard of this fact may explain some null findings in the research on hostility and CHD risk.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1998

Response of hostile individuals to stressful changes in their working lives: test of a psychosocial vulnerability model.

BACKGROUND: According to the psychosocial vulnerability model, the health of hostile individuals is at greater risk than that of non-hostile individuals, due partly to lesser ability of the former to cope with psychosocial stress situations. We examined whether hostile individuals were more vulnerable than others to health problems when faced with stressful changes in their working lives. METHODS: Hostility, sickness absence and psychosocial stressors in 866 local government employees over a 5-year period, which included severe economic decline, were investigated. Hostility was measured by a questionnaire. Data on medically certified sickness absence were obtained from the records of the local authority. Information about exposure to psychosocial stressors after assessment of hostility was also derived from these records, and from the subjects. RESULTS: Exposure to stressors during the period of economic decline was related to increased rates of sickness absence. In men, hostility increased risk of sickness absence after exposure to stressors only in cases of absence because of trauma. In women, hostility increased risk of absence through sickness overall and absence because of musculoskeletal disorders in individuals facing stressors such as severe organizational downsizing, high or increased levels of job demands or negative change in work. Findings were adjusted for sickness absence at the beginning of the decline, socio-economic background and behavioural risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: The psychosocial vulnerability model was partly supported. However, heightened vulnerability through hostility may differ between the sexes, since it was more evident in the women studied than in the men.

Absenteeism↗

PubMed2000

Hostility in marital dyads: associations with depressive symptoms.

We examined the relations of hostility (of self and spouse) with self-ratings of depressive symptoms in 898 spouse pairs. Self-ratings of hostility were initially examined as predictors of depression. Next, spouse self-ratings of hostility were added to the model. Finally, the interaction of self x spouse hostility was investigated. These relations were explored for three components of hostility (Cynicism, Aggressive Responding, and Hostile Affect). Age and education were controlled in all models and effects were examined separately for women and men. Self-ratings of Hostile Affect were positively related to depressive symptoms for both women and men. Self-ratings of Cynicism were also significantly related to depression, but only for men. All three components of spouse's hostility were positively related to one's own symptoms of depression for women. For men, however, spouse's hostility was not related to symptoms of depression. These findings highlight the need to study psychosocial risk factors in social units and have potential implications for intervention.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Hostile attributional tendencies in maltreated children.

The hostile attributional tendencies of maltreated children in elementary school across key relationship figures (i.e., parents, teachers, and peers), the relation between children's hostile attributional tendencies and the frequency and severity of maltreatment, and the role of children's hostile attributions of their parents in mediating the relation between maltreatment and children's hostile attributions of unfamiliar peers were examined. The sample consisted of 44 maltreated and 56 nonmaltreated children (females = 51) of mixed ethnicity. Subjects were administered a 20-item measure of attributional processes. The results indicated that relative to nonmaltreated children, physically abused boys were more likely to attribute hostile intentions to a variety of relationship figures, including their parents, an unfamiliar teacher, their best friend, and unfamiliar peers. A positive relation was also found between the frequency of physical abuse and hostile attributional tendencies among males. Finally, support was found for the role of children's hostile attributions of their mothers in mediating the relation between physical abuse and children's hostile attributions of unfamiliar peers. The results support a link between physical abuse and hostile attributional tendencies in children in early elementary school.

Aggression↗

PubMed1993

Cardiovascular and emotional responses in women: the role of hostility and harassment.

The relation of hostility and harassment to cardiovascular and emotional responses was examined by having 51 women (ages 18-26) high and low in hostility complete a task with or without harassment. Harassed high hostile Ss showed greater systolic blood pressure (SBP) increases during task and recovery periods than did harassed low hostile Ss and nonharassed Ss. Harassed low hostile Ss evidenced greater SBP increases during task and recovery periods than did nonharassed Ss. Among high hostile women, cardiovascular elevations during the task were associated with self-reported levels of negative affect. Antagonistic hostility, relative to neurotic hostility, was positively associated with harassment-induced SBP changes. These results support the hypothesis that hostile people exhibit excessive behaviorally induced cardiovascular responses to interpersonally challenging tasks that evoke anger-related emotional states.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Hostility and cardiovascular reactivity during marital interaction.

OBJECTIVE: Prior studies demonstrate that hostile persons respond to social stressors with heightened cardiovascular responses. This study examined the effects of individual differences in hostility and two experimentally manipulated social stressors on cardiovascular reactivity during marital interaction. METHODS: Sixty couples participated in a discussion task under conditions of high or low evaluative threat and while either agreeing or disagreeing with each other. Individual differences in hostility were assessed with the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire. Participants' appraisal of their spouses' behavior during the interaction task was assessed with a standardized measure. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure and heart rate responses were recorded. RESULTS: Among husbands, hostility was associated with greater systolic blood pressure reactivity under high, but not low, threat. Appraisals suggested that this might be due to husbands' efforts to assert dominance in the interaction. Wives' hostility scores were unrelated to cardiovascular reactivity, but wives disagreeing with hostile husbands showed greater heart rate reactivity. CONCLUSIONS: Heightened cardiovascular reactivity to stressful marital interactions among hostile men provides additional evidence of the viability of this psychophysiologic mechanism as a link between hostility and health. The lack of effects among wives suggests sex differences in the social psychophysiology of hostility. Interpersonal concepts and methods are useful in the study of psychosocial risk factors and mechanisms.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Hostility, gender, and cardiac autonomic control.

OBJECTIVE: Although considerable evidence implicates hostility in the development of coronary artery disease (CAD), the pathogenic mechanisms remain poorly understood. We have developed a psychophysiological model that holds that altered autonomic nervous system function links psychological traits with CAD outcomes. In laboratory studies, stressors reduce high-frequency (HF) heart period variability, an index of cardiac vagal modulation. With ambulatory electrocardiographic recording, we demonstrated in a predominantly male sample that hostility was inversely associated with HF power, but only during waking hours. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that hostile individuals experience multiple stressful interpersonal transactions each day, resulting in overall lower HF power during the day but not at night. METHODS: To further evaluate this hypothesis, we screened 96 subjects using the Cook-Medley Hostility Scale and selected 15 men and 15 women representing a wide distribution of hostility. These subjects were studied in a laboratory session assessing reactivity to psychological and orthostatic challenges with continuous electrocardiographic, blood pressure, and respiration monitoring. We predicted that for men and women, hostility would be inversely related to reductions in HF power in response to challenge. RESULTS: In response to mental stressors, all measures of heart period variability change were inversely related to hostility as predicted. No such relationships were found for responses to tilt. The data suggested a possible effect of gender on these relationships. CONCLUSIONS: These data add to the growing body of evidence showing that hostility influences vagal modulation of the cardiovascular system and suggest that altered autonomic control is a pathogenic mechanism linking hostility and CAD.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Hostility, interpersonal interactions, and ambulatory blood pressure.

OBJECTIVE: 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. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 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. RESULTS: 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. CONCLUSIONS: 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.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1976

Hostility in drug dependent individuals: its relation to specific drugs, and oral or intravenous use.

Although a number of studies have suggested that hostility and drug dependence may be related, there are few systematic studies of this issue. Using the Hostility and Direction of Hostility Questionnaire, the present study compares several drug-dependent groups of patients. Results showed that the intravenous in-patient group was more hostile on several variables than their out-patient counterparts, and also more hostile than an oral in-patient group. Barbiturate abusers were found to have high levels of hostility; amphetamine abusers were the least hostile group, and narcotic dependent patients were intermediate between the two. Correlations between scales of the HDHQ were all positive, and most were both high and statistically significant, suggesting that hostility represents a relatively generalized trait in drug-dependent subjects. The results are discussed both in terms of patient selection factors--the differential pressures on different types of patients, and in terms of direct drug effects. It is suggested that the hostility of drug-dependent patients may represent an important problem of personal functioning and may require special attention in treatment programmes.

Acting Out↗

PubMed2000

Hostility and the cardiovascular reactivity of women during interpersonal confrontation.

In order to explore the association between hostility and women's health, this study examined the relationship of hostility to cardiovascular reactivity during stressful, interpersonal confrontations. Prior to the task, each participant's level of hostility, methods of coping with stress, and perceived social support were evaluated. Blood pressure and heart rate were monitored in ninety females during two discussions with a disagreeing confederate. In one discussion, participants were given positive feedback concerning their performance, while in a second discussion, participants were given non-positive feedback concerning their effectiveness in expressing their viewpoint. The results indicate that low hostile women displayed greater systolic blood pressure and heart rate increases than high hostile women during the discussions. In addition, participants exhibited greater systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure reactivity during the positive feedback condition than during the non-positive feedback condition. However, for diastolic blood pressure, these results were qualified by an interaction, such that low hostile women displayed greater reactivity during the positive feedback condition than during the non-positive feedback condition, while high hostile women were equally reactive in both feedback conditions. State assessment of coping styles indicated that high hostile women may be less reactive due to withdrawal and lack of engagement during the task, while low hostile women may show greater engagement, especially when encouraged by positive feedback.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2002

Hostility, race, and glucose metabolism in nondiabetic individuals.

OBJECTIVE: The present study was designed to determine whether hostility is differentially related to measures of glucose metabolism in African-Americans and Caucasians. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: The relationship of hostility, as measured by a subset of the Cook-Medley hostility scale (CMHOST) inventory items, to various parameters of glucose metabolism were examined in a young, healthy sample of male and female African-American and Caucasian volunteers. Fasting blood samples were collected during an inpatient admission, at which time the CMHOST was also administered. RESULTS: In the entire sample, the CMHOST was found to be significantly correlated with fasting glucose and insulin sensitivity, as measured by the homeostatic model assessment (HOMA). However, the relationship of hostility to these parameters of glucose metabolism was different in African-American and Caucasian subjects. Hostility was significantly related to fasting glucose in African-Americans and to insulin sensitivity and fasting insulin in Caucasian subjects. The relationship of hostility to insulin sensitivity and fasting insulin was partially dependent on BMI in Caucasians, but the relationship of hostility to fasting glucose was unrelated to BMI in African-Americans. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that the relationship of hostility to measures of glucose metabolism is mediated differently in these two ethnic groups. Therefore, hostility seems to be part of a constellation of risk-related behaviors related to BMI in Caucasians but independently related to fasting glucose in African-Americans.

Adult↗

PubMed2000

[Hostility behavior as risk factor of coronary heart disease].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationships between hostility, and the risks of coronary-prone behavior and the clusters of unhealthy behaviors in individuals with different levels of hostility. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out among 1 010 male employees from two factories in Beijing Capital Steel and Iron Company in 1997. Data on major risks of cardiovascular, other social-demographic factors and levels of hostility by Cook-Medley Scales were collected. RESULTS: Body mass index, amounts of cigarette smoking and alcohol drinking were significantly increased (P < 0.01) with a characteristic of reduced social support from one's colleagues, when individual's level of hostility increased. In addition, less years of education, higher prevalence of other chronic diseases (P < 0.05) and clustering of various unhealthy behaviors were found related to the increase of individual's hostility. The odds ratio in the group with highest hostility was 2.37 times higher than in the lowest one, after confounding effects from age, blood pressure, education level, status of chronic disease and social support being adjusted. No significant differences on both systolic and diastolic blood pressures among groups with different levels of hostility were discovered. CONCLUSION: The association between hostility, coronary-prone risk behavior and cluster of unhealthy behaviors suggested that hostility might increase the risk of coronary heart diseases through affecting individual's behavior.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1997

Predictors of hostility in a group of relocated refugees.

The objective of this research was to determine whether early postmigration demographic and psychosocial factors associated with cultural marginality would predict hostility one decade after flight and relocation. In this longitudinal study, participants, who had spent 1 year in a refugee comp, were studied at 1.5, 3.5, and 9 years postrelocation in the United States (i.e., Times 1, 2, and 3). Earlier data were compared with hostility at 9 years. Participants were interviewed primarily in their homes, although a few were interviewed elsewhere at their request (i.e., community center, University of Minnesota clinical offices). The 102 Hmong participants in this study, originally from Laos, comprised the first group of Hmong refugees, aged 15 to 72 years old (M = 31.0, SD = 13.1), to be relocated from Thailand to Minnesota by the Immigration and Naturalization Service in 1976. Hmong research assistants collected these data using a questionnaire format at 1.5, 3.5, and 9 years postrelocation. Hostility was measured using the Hostility subscale of the 90-item Symptom Checklist (SCL-90). Female gender, animistic belief, absence of a leadership role, and high scores on the SCL-Hostility predicted higher SCL-Hostility scores. Increased hostility was associated with greater financial, marital, and mental-emotional problems. This study suggests that demographic factors associated with marginality and loss of control predict hostility in a group of refugee immigrants. Losses and stressors from a decade earlier in Asia did not predict hostility.

Acculturation↗

PubMed1987

N-acetylneuraminic acid and hostile mucus infertility.

A total of 39 samples of hostile mucus, as defined by postcoital examination, were examined for N-acetylneuraminic acid (NANA) deficiency, as measured by the enzymatic addition of NANA, spermatozoal penetration and immobilization. Only 56.7% of the mucus samples were deficient in NANA and this did not correlate with spermatozoal penetration or immobilization, which were negatively correlated. Thus, as the spermatozoal hostility in the mucus decreases, spermatozoal penetration increases. This finding also applies to hostile mucus not deficient in NANA. In contrast, resialylation of NANA hostile mucus, deficient and not deficient in NANA, although not enhancing spermatozoal penetration, did reduce spermatozoal immobilization. Thus, components of the mucus deficient in NANA and/or the lack of unbound NANA may contribute to mucus hostility, but it is not the only hostile factor. In addition, SEM studies of NANA-deficient mucin before and after resialylation were shown to have similar structures. Hence ultrastructural changes are not apparent in NANA-deficient mucin, and this supports the previous finding that NANA deficiency does not impede spermatozoal penetration. The spermatozoa from the husbands of the infertile couples formed three distinct groups in terms of spermatozoal penetration and immobilization in normal donor mucus. One group demonstrated normal levels of spermatozoal penetration and immobilization in donor mucus. A second group was demonstrable in which spermatozoal penetration was similar to that in the wife's hostile mucus, but had a normal level of spermatozoal immobilization. In the third group, both spermatozoal penetration and immobilization in donor mucus were similar to that in the wife's hostile mucus. The results demonstrate that not all hostile mucus is deficient in NANA, and that other unknown factors are involved. In addition, there are also male factors which may impede spermatozoal penetration and/or result in the inability of the spermatozoa to survive in normal donor mucus.

Cervix Mucus↗

PubMed1999

Hostility, dieting, and nutrition attitudes in overweight and weight-cycling men and women.

OBJECTIVE: Relationships were examined between hostility, weight status, weight cycling, dieting behaviors, and nutrition attitudes. METHOD: Data were derived from the RENO Diet-Heart Study (RDHS), a 5-year prospective natural history (descriptive) study of weight fluctuations, behavior patterns, and cardiovascular (CVD) risk factors. Overweight versus normal-weight and weight-cycling versus non-weight-cycling men and women were compared on overt and covert hostility. RESULTS: Overweight subjects scored significantly higher than normal-weight individuals on covert but not overt hostility. Similarly, subjects with a history of weight fluctuation scored significantly higher on covert hostility than subjects without a history of weight cycling. Subjects who reported more hostility scored higher on measures of eating disinhibition, hunger, and dietary helplessness. DISCUSSION: The relationships among hostility, dieting behaviors, and nutrition attitudes could not be explained on the basis of general distress alone. The findings supported the hypothesis that the relationship between hostility and health is mediated by the association between hostility and health-related behaviors.

Adult↗

PubMed1977

Dogmatism, hostility, aggression, and gender roles.

The relationships between dogmatism, hostility, and aggression for males and females were studied. Ss were 74 male and 109 female college students, who were administered the D Scale, Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory, Megargee Overcontrolled Hostility Inventory, Gough-Sanford Rigidity Scale, and Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale. Significant positive relationships were found between dogmatism and hostility for both males and females (p less than .001). This confirmed theoretical formulations that postulated the more dogmatic to be pervasively hostile, rather than limited to directed expressions of hostility such as prejudice. Only for males, however, was a significant negative relationship between dogmatism and the overcontrolling of hostility found (p less than .05). In this, and other relationships, males appeared to be more able to integrate aggressive behaviors into personality patterns. While dogmatism related to several personality patterns, it had no relationship to social desirability. Rigidity and dogmatism presented essentially different personality constellations. Feelings of guilt were related significantly to disaffected patterns such as dogmatism (p less than .001), hostility (p less than .001), and aggression (p less than .05), which suggests a turning inward of feelings of anger and disappointment in addition to their outward expression.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2001

The relationship between hostility and behavioral risk factors for poor health in women veterans.

BACKGROUND: While previous research has generally supported a relationship between hostility and health risk behaviors, the majority of this research has been conducted in predominately male, highly educated, Caucasian samples. The current study was designed to further examine the relationship between hostility and health risk behaviors in a sample of women. METHODS: Measures of health risk behavior and scores from the Cook-Medley hostility scale were obtained from 409 women veterans. Linear and logistic regression analyses were used to examine the relationship between hostility and health behaviors including tobacco smoking, alcohol use, body-mass index, caffeine use, and level of physical activity, after sociodemographic factors were accounted for. RESULTS: In a cohort of women veterans using VA health care, ages 35-81, hostility was significantly associated with tobacco smoking (OR = 2.10; 95% CI = 1.34 to 3.30), caffeine use (OR = 2.12; 95% CI = 1.16 to 3.85), and the number of alcoholic beverages consumed by women who drink alcohol. Hostility was not associated with body mass index (OR = 1.15; 95% CI = 0.77 to 1.72) or a lack of physical exercise (OR = 0.89; 95% CI = 0.55 to 1.43). CONCLUSIONS: Results are generally consistent with previous research and support the relationship between hostility and health risk behaviors. Awareness that hostility contributes to risk behaviors and disease may help in the design of interventions aimed at risk reduction.

Adult↗