Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry
Volume 25, Issue 6 , Pages 771-778, November 1986

Stress and Type A Behavior in Children

  • ULF LUNDBERG, PH.D.

      Affiliations

    • Corresponding Author InformationAddress for correspondence: Ulf Lundberg, Psychology Division, c/o Department of Psychology, University of Stockholm, S-10691 Stockholm, Sweden

Preparation of this paper was supported by grants from the Swedish Medical Research Council (Project No. 997). The Swedish Council for Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences, the Karolinska Institute Research Funds and the John D. and Catherine T. Mac Arthur Foundation

Received 10 June 1985; received in revised form 28 January 1986; accepted 19 February 1986.

Article Outline

This paper examines developmental aspects of type A behavior and physiological stress responses in children. It is shown that adrenal medullary activity sensitively reflects the impact of various stressful conditions in children, and that antecedents of type A behavior (aggressiveness, impatience, competitiveness) can be found at an early age. As with adults, type A-like behaviors in children seem to correlate with sympathetic reactivity to “challenge.” Higher type A scores and higher catecholamine levels were found in boys than in girls. As elevated blood pressure and catecholamine reactivity are assumed to predispose to coronary heart disease (CHD), individual differences in sympathetic reactivity from early childhood may be of relevance for susceptibility to CHD in adulthood.

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PII: S0002-7138(09)60194-1

doi:10.1016/S0002-7138(09)60194-1

Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry
Volume 25, Issue 6 , Pages 771-778, November 1986

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