Abstract.The relationships between individual differences in psychophysiological responses and tendency of Type A behavior pattern (TABP) were investigated during mental arithmetic (MA) at a steady rhythm, challenging calculation (Uchida-Kraepelin serial addition test: UK test), music listening, and exposure to an 80 dB SPL of white noise. Each mental task was sustained for 5 minutes. Sixteen healthy Japanese adults, (10 males and 6 females) with an age from 18 to 36 years old volunteered for this study. The KG's Daily Life Questionnaire (KG Questionnaire) was used to investigate the tendency toward TABP, which included three sub-factors: aggression-hostility, hard-driving and time urgency, and speed-power items. Recorded physiological variables were respiratory rate (RR), skin resistance response (SRR), eyeblinks, and heart rate (HR) calculated using frequency analysis to render high frequency power (HF) and the ratio of low/high frequencies (L/H ratio). During the MA and UK tests, significant increases in HR, L/H ratio, RR occurred, while significant decreases in HF were observed. Eyeblinks significantly increased during the MA test and significantly decreased during the UK test. During music and white noise, no significant changes occurred except for SRR, which decreased significantly. The coefficient of variances in each response was over 20% for almost all variables, indicating that individual differences in the magnitude of each response were large, even if the direction (increase or decrease) of the change was the same in almost all subjects. The highest correlation coefficients (r) between the mean values of relative magnitude for each variable and TABP scores during the MA and UK tests were obtained for the L/H ratio (MA: r=0.591, UK test: r=0.577) and the RR (MA: r= 0.576, UK test: r= 0.511). These values were statistically significant (p<0.05). Similar results were obtained for TABP sub-factors. Though other investigations have reported relationships between HF and TABP, we found no significant relationship. It was suggested that sympathetic nerve activity became greater for TABP individuals than for Type B individuals under stress conditions.

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This study was designed to investigate the relationships between the tendencies of Type A behavior pattern (TABP) and daily sports activity for college students, under a hypothesis that daily physical training weakens the TABP tendencies. A total of 2587 students in Japanese colleges volunteered. They were divided into two groups ; an athlete group and a non-athlete group. KG's Daily Life Questionnaire was used to investigate the tendency of TABP. The athlete group showed higher TABP scores than those of the non-athlete group. Additionally, the higher competition level group showed higher scores of TABP than those of the lower level group. Contrary to the hypothesis, the athlete group showed higher TABP tendencies than those of the non-athlete group. This result might be caused by several factors, such as the nature of competition, high levels of stress involved in competitive sports and/or specific backgrounds of Japanese college sports clubs.

The purpose of the present study was to derive regression equation based on anthropometric measurements to estimate pulmonary residual volume (RV) and to ascertain its applicability in calculation of body density (BD). Subjects were 30 males and 25 females living in Santa Barbara, California, USA, ranging in age 17 to 52 years.Nine anthropometric measurements, actual RV, vital capacity (VC), and BD using the conventional underwater weighing method were made on each subject . In males four measurements (age, height, biiliac diameter, and chest diameter) were selected by Wherry-Doolittle test selection method. Likewise, four measurements (height, age, shoulder circumference , and chest diameter) were selected in females. The prediction formulas obtained by using these measurements were as follows: (for females) (R=0.768, SEE =225.9 ml) where X1: height (cm), X2: age (years), X3: shoulder circumference (mm) , X4: chest diameter (mm).When these formulas were used to calculate RV, mean absolute differences between BDs obtained by using measured and the predicted RVs were 0.00331 g/cm3 for males and 0 .00353 g/cm3 for females. On the other hand, the absolute differences using the formula of Goldman and Becklake, the fractions of VC, and the constant values were 0 .0047 g/cm3, 0.00763 g/cm3, and 0.00787 g/cm3 for males, 0.00642 g/cm3, 0.00646 g/cm3, and 0.00620 g/cm3 for females respectively.It was concluded that using the formulas obtained in the present study to predict RV would be a useful method in the situation where mass management were nessesary and more precise measurements were required than the other simplified estimations. Because in predicting RV our formulas could largely diminish the extent of the potential error as compared with the other predictions. In addition they would not require special knowledge , technique, and devises.

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The purpose of this study was to clarify the relationship between the low back pain of college students and psychological factors by using a questionnaire for low back pains and five psychological tests. The tests consisted of the Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Purpose in Life (PIL) test, Hassles Scale for students and Type A test. The subjects were 337 college students (126 male, 211 female) ranging in age from 19 to 22 (mean ± SD: 20.2 ± 1.3) years. Seventy-four subjects whose lower back pain was thought to be caused by organic factors were excluded. The 263 subjects (102 males, 161 females, mean ± SD: 20.1 ± 1.1 years) were divided into three groups (NP: subjects with no pain, PND: subjects with pain but no difficulties in daily life, PD: subjects with pain and difficulties in daily life) by degrees of low back pain. The PD subjects showed a more negative attitude than those in the PND and/or NP groups for four tests, i.e., Hassles Scale and the psychosomatic component of the HSCL and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory tests. It was suggested that low back pain was related to psychological factors such as stress and anxiety.