Measurement of type "A" behavior

Abstract

Item analisys of the GFP's last version is presented. The process of item depuration is detailed and an attempt is made to define the main clusters the item analisys yield. The GFP (Guide to Personality Factors) is meant to measure the "idiosincratic, mexican" type of A behavior (Friedman and Rosenman, 1974) almost always associated to miocardyal infarction (MI). Four hopefully "factors" resulted: a) time urgency in two forms, hurryness and impatience; b)insecurity related to the intimate interpersonal relationship; c) the, well known and already documented verbal hostility of type A's, and d) a complex feeling in which devaluation of neighbor's behavior plays a central role. The test is a offered to any interested psychologist in order to gather data enough to validate a "mexican" or "latin" instrument able to predict the ocurrence of IM, and illness everyday more frequent among urban, educated, middle class latinamerican males