Type D Personality Predicts Poor Medication Adherence in Myocardial Infarction Patients

Citation

Williams L, O'Connor R, Grubb NR & O'Carroll R (2011) Type D Personality Predicts Poor Medication Adherence in Myocardial Infarction Patients. Psychology and Health, 26 (6), pp. 703-712. https://doi.org/10.1080/08870446.2010.488265

Abstract
Type D personality, the combination of negative affectivity and social inhibition, is an emerging risk factor in cardiovascular disease. The current study aimed to examine one possible behavioural mechanism to explain the link between Type D and ill-health. It was hypothesised that Type D personality would predict medication adherence in myocardial infarction (MI) patients. In a prospective study, 192 MI patients (54 females, 138 males) completed measures of Type D personality and provided demographic and medical information one week post-MI, and 131 then went on to complete a self-report measure of medication adherence three months post-MI. It was found that Type D personality predicts adherence to medication, after controlling for demographic and clinical risk factors. Critically, the constituent components of Type D, negative affectivity and social inhibition, interact to predict medication adherence, after controlling for the effects of each component separately. Poor adherence to medication may represent one mechanism to explain why Type D cardiac patients experience poor clinical outcome, in comparison to non-Type D patients. Interventions which target the self-management of medication may be useful in these high-risk patients.

Keywords
negative affect; medication adherence; myocardial infarction; prospective; social inhibition; Type D personality; Myocardial infarction; Typology (Psychology); Inhibition (Psychology)

Journal
Psychology and Health: Volume 26, Issue 6