Factorial structure in a Mexican scale of Type “A” behavior pattern and its relationship with illness symptoms

Most of the Type A Behavior Pattern (TABP) scales were designed on a global character basis, that is, unidimensionally. However, it has been recently demonstrated that hostility has a primordial importance in its relationship with cardiovascular disease. The purpose of the present study was to carry out a factorial analysis of a Mexican scale of TABP to locate the dimensions that compose it and to evaluate its relationship with somatic symptoms in the digestive, breathing and circulatory systems. 522 Mexican subjects who work in Mexico City and the suburbs participated. The results show three factors that explain 30.85% of the variance in the whole experiment. The first factor (impatience-hostility) was the only one which obtained significant relationships with the circulatory system and its reliability values were higher than the original scale, and as a result it is singled out as the main component of the scale. We discuss the importance of the components and the structure found for future studies to develop preventive or intervention programs.