Author

Kelsey O'Dell

Degree Type

Honors Capstone Project

Date of Submission

Spring 5-1-2010

Capstone Advisor

Dr. Kevin Masters

Honors Reader

Dr. Stephen Maisto

Capstone Major

Psychology

Capstone College

Arts and Science

Audio/Visual Component

no

Capstone Prize Winner

no

Won Capstone Funding

no

Honors Categories

Social Sciences

Subject Categories

Health Psychology | Other Psychology | Personality and Social Contexts | Psychology

Abstract

Type-D personality is characterized by the stable traits of negative affectivity and social inhibition. In recent years, a body of studies has examined the relationship between the presence of Type-D personality and prognosis in cardiovascular patient populations. The present meta-analysis, investigated relationships between Type-D personality and three different outcome measures: major adverse cardiac events, quality of life, and biochemical markers of disease. A random effects meta-analytic model was utilized to calculate omnibus effect sizes for each set of related studies. Tests of homogeneity were conducted, and all studies were coded for the presence of potential moderators. A total of 14 studies were included in the meta-analysis, and one effect size was calculated in the major adverse cardiac event analysis, two were calculated in the quality of life analysis and seven effect sizes were calculated for the biochemical marker analysis. An association was found between Type-D personality and major adverse cardiac events, one measure of quality of life, interleukin-6 levels and tumor necrosis factor-alpha soluble receptor levels. No association was found with respect to cortisol or tumor necrosis factor-alpha levels. All other effect sizes trended towards significance. It is suggested that a broader body of research be conducted in this area in order to generalize these associations. Research is also warranted to investigate the effects of treatment with a focus on alleviating emotional distress on Type-D individuals in order to identify options to improve prognosis in this high-risk patient group.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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