Conclusions

1. Abstract Empirically Derived Components of Hostility in a Community-Based Sample of African Americans Mana K. Ali, MS¹, Denee T. Mwendwa, PhD¹, Regina C. Sims, PhD¹, Serge Madhere, PhD¹ Cynthia Winston, , PhD¹, Clive O. Callender, MD², Alfonso Campbell Jr., PhD¹ Howard University1 and Howard University Hospital2 Washington, DC 20059 Dispositional traits are enduring styles of functioning (behaving, thinking and feeling) in various situations over time. Research has attempted to understand the manifestation of dispositional hostility through investigation of the Cook Medley Hostility (Ho) Scale. However, research with aims to conceptualize hostility, have not utilized predominately African-American samples. Personality dispositions exist within immediate and distant contexts. Thus, it is flawed to assume antecedents and manifestations of personality dispositions are neutral across racial/ethnic groups. Problem Statement: The purpose of this study was to investigate the manifestation of hostility for a sample of African Americans. Sample: This study utilized a community-based sample of 198 African Americans residing in the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area. The participants ranged in ages from 18-73 years (mean age=45.4, SD=11.56) and approximately 49.5% of the sample was male. On average, participants achieved an education of 13.8 years (SD=2.3) and 59.9% had a yearly income of $30,000 or less. Procedure: Participants completed the self-reported Ho Scale. Results: Principal component analysis of the Ho Scale revealed two components of hostility in this sample: Hypersensitivity and Controlled Hostility. Conclusion: It is to these authors’ assertion that the emerged components of hostility may be attributed to the unique history of African Americans. In efforts to comprehensively understand the whole person, personality dispositions should be interpreted within a context for various racial/ethnic groups. Future Directions: Narrative research can facilitate the idiosyncratic understanding of personality and expose patterns and dissimilarities among racial/ethnic groups. Conclusions Background • Results suggest hostility is more bi-dimensional in nature for the current sample. The two components that emerged are unique compared to previous investigations of the Ho Scale. • Hypersensitivity is characterized by vulnerability to mistrusting human nature, as well as experiencing negative affect (e.g., irritability, impatience, insecurity, disappointment). • Controlled Hostility reflects low likelihood to seek revenge for perceived injustices, low likelihood of egotistic self-comparisons against others and a relative certainty about how to conduct oneself in social situations. • An examination of the sample’s characteristics may point to layered forms of marginalization (i.e., weight, race, income) as a context in which these components emerged. • A hypersensitive orientation toward interpersonal interaction may be rooted in cultural historical dehumanization that persists at individual and institutional levels of racism in society. Controlling hostility may be adaptive to reduce untoward effects of discrimination. • There has been discrepancy regarding whether hostility as measured by the Cook Medley (Ho) Scale is unidimensional or multidimensional (Barefoot et al., 1989; Greenglass & Julkunen, 1989 ). • Theory and face validity were used to derive the widely used subscales created by Barefoot et al. (1989) rather than empirical methods which consider response patterns. • African Americans have higher hostility scores compared to Whites (Allen, et al., 2001). However, there has not been an empirical investigation using a predominately African-American sample to extend this conceptualization. • Personality dispositions exist within immediate and historical contexts suggesting the manifestation of hostility may vary across racial/ethnic groups (McAdams & Pals, 2006). Thus, hostility for African Americans needs to be interpreted within a socio-historical context. Sample Characteristics N=198 Methodology Principal Component Analysis Acknowledgment Rotated Component Matrix with loadings for Empirically Derived Components Participants: The participants were a community- based sample of African Americans recruited from Howard University Hospital, 18 to 73 years of age, who resided in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. The sample was 49.5% male. Measures: Participants completed the 50-item, self-report Ho scale to measure dispositional hostility (Cook & Medley, 1954). Data Analysis: Initial hostility subsets were created from Ho Scale by rational analysis of item content. Next, components were created from the subsets using principal component analysis to account for response patterns. Face validity and theory were used to interpret and name the final components. • This research is part of a larger study entitled “Stress and Psychoneuroimmunological Factors in Renal Health and Disease” that is funded by The National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (grant #1P20MD000512-04), “A Research Center to Reduce Ethnic Disparities in ESRD.” This poster was supported by Howard University's General Clinical Research Center grant #2MO1-RR010284 from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official view of NCRR or NIH. • Health Promotion and Risk Reduction Research Center (HealthPARC) Note. Component 1=Hypersensitivity; Component 2=Controlled Hostility