Synonyms
Definition
Hostility is a relatively stable personality trait typically characterized as a multidimensional construct with significant affective (e.g., anger), cognitive (e.g., attitudes), and behavioral (e.g., aggression) components. Hostile individuals have a suspicious, mistrustful attitude and often disparaging view of others and generally have a cynical worldview of their environment and social interactions. Thus, this type of personality disposition is often referred to “cynical hostility.”
Description
An expansive literature on personality and disease processes and health risks has developed over the past 50–60 years. Hostility has featured prominently in this literature, particularly with regard to cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk (Miller et al. 1996; Everson-Rose and Lewis 2005). Though some negative studies have been reported, on balance, the available evidence from methodologically strong, population-based studies...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
References and Further Reading
Barefoot, J. C., Dodge, K. A., Peterson, B. L., Dahlstrom, W. G., & Williams, R. B., Jr. (1989). The Cook-Medley hostility scale: Item contact and ability to predict survival. Psychosomatic Medicine, 51, 46–57.
Barefoot, J. C., Dodge, K. A., Dahlstrom, W. G., Siegler, I. C., Anderson, N. B., & Williams, R. B., Jr. (1991). Hostility patterns and health implications: Correlates of Cook-Medley Hostility Scale scores in a national survey contact and ability to predict survival. Health Psychology, 10, 18–24.
Barnes, L. L., Mendes de Leon, C. F., Bienias, J. L., Wilson, R. S., Everson-Rose, S. A., & Evans, D. A. (2009). Hostility and change in cognitive functions over time in older blacks and whites. Psychosomatic Medicine, 71, 652–658.
Demarble, J. B., Moskowitz, D. S., Tardif, J., & Antono, B. D. (2014). The relation between hostility and concurrent levels of inflammation is sex, age, and measure dependent. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 76, 384–393.
Everson, S. A., Kauhanen, J., Kaplan, G. A., Goldberg, D. E., Julkunen, J., Tuomilehto, J., et al. (1997). Hostility and increased risk of mortality and acute myocardial infarction: The mediating role of behavioral risk factors. American Journal of Epidemiology, 146, 142–152.
Everson-Rose, S. A., & Lewis, T. T. (2005). Psychosocial factors and cardiovascular diseases. Annual Review of Public Health, 26, 469–500.
Graham, J. E., Robles, T. F., Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K., Malarkey, W. B., Bissell, M. G., & Glaser, R. (2006). Hostility and pain are related to inflammation in older adults. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 20, 389–400.
Hemingway, H., & Marmot, M. (1999). Evidence based cardiology: Psychosocial factors in the aetiology and prognosis of coronary heart disease. Systematic review of prospective cohort studies. British Medical Journal, 318, 1460–1467.
Kubzansky, L. D., Sparrow, D., Jackson, B., Cohen, S., Weiss, S. T., & Wright, R. J. (2006). Angry breathing: A prospective study of hostility and lung function in the Normative Aging Study. Thorax, 61, 863–868.
Lemogne, C., Levenstein, S., Nabi, H., Ducimetière, P., Goldberg, M., & Zins, M. (2015). Hostility and the risk of peptic ulcer in the GAZEL cohort. Health Psychology, 34, 181–185.
Miller, T. Q., Smith, T. W., Turner, C. W., Guijarro, M. L., & Hallet, A. J. (1996). A metaanalytic review of research on hostility and physical health. Psychological Bulletin, 119, 322–348.
Niaura, R., Todaro, J. F., Stroud, L., Spiro, A., 3rd, Ward, K. D., & Weiss, S. (2002). Hostility, the metabolic syndrome, and incident coronary heart disease. Health Psychology, 21, 588–593.
Shen, B. J., Countryman, A. J., Spiro, A., 3rd, & Niaura, R. (2008). The prospective contribution of hostility characteristics to high fasting glucose levels: The moderating role of marital status. Diabetes Care, 31, 1293–1298.
Versey, H. S., & Kaplan, G. A. (2012). Mediation and moderation of the association between cynical hostility and systolic blood pressure in low-income women. Health Education & Behavior, 39, 219–228.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer Science+Business Media LLC
About this entry
Cite this entry
Everson-Rose, S.A., Balaji, P., Yu, X. (2018). Hostility, Cynical. In: Gellman, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6439-6_255-2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6439-6_255-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-6439-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6439-6
eBook Packages: Springer Reference MedicineReference Module Medicine