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Interpersonal Circumplex Descriptions of Psychosocial Risk Factors for Physical Illness: Application to Hostility, Neuroticism, and Marital Adjustment
Author(s) -
Smith Timothy W.,
Traupman Emily K.,
Uchino Bert N.,
Berg Cynthia A.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of personality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.082
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1467-6494
pISSN - 0022-3506
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2010.00641.x
Subject(s) - hostility , psychology , neuroticism , anger , psychosocial , interpersonal communication , personality , interpersonal relationship , spouse , anxiety , clinical psychology , big five personality traits , extraversion and introversion , developmental psychology , social psychology , psychiatry , sociology , anthropology
Personality risk factors for physical illness are typically studied individually and apart from risk factors reflecting the social environment, potentially fostering a piecemeal understanding of psychosocial influences on health. Because it can be used to describe both personality and social relationship processes, the interpersonal circumplex (IPC) provides an integrative approach to psychosocial risk. In 301 married couples we examined IPC correlates of 3 risk factor domains: anger, hostility, and aggressiveness; neuroticism; and marital adjustment. Risk factors displayed IPC locations ranging from hostile dominance (e.g., verbal aggressiveness, marital conflict) to hostility (e.g., anger) to hostile submissiveness (e.g., anxiety, depression); protective factors (marital satisfaction and support) reflected warmth or friendliness in the IPC. Similar descriptions were found using self‐reports and spouse ratings of IPC dimensions, indicating that interpersonal styles associated with risk factors do not simply reflect common method variance. Findings identify interpersonal processes reflecting low affiliation or high hostility as a common component of risk and indicate distinctions among risk factors along the dominance dimension.