ABSTRACT
The three main constructs that we address in this chapter are gender, anger and hostility variables, and coronary heart disease. The literature suggests that their interrelationships are complex, and might be conceptualized in a variety of ways. If we consider heart disease as the endpoint of interest, two ways of considering the interrelationship of all three constructs emerge. One, we can examine the mediating effect gender has on the hostility–disease relationship or, two, we can examine the mediating effect hostility has on the gender–disease relationship. We have elected to conceptually view the literature in the latter manner for two reasons. First, gender is a biological factor, which is more basic to our identities than the higher order psychological constructs of hostility. Second, the relationship of gender with heart disease is more clearly established than the relationship of hostility with heart disease. Research has clearly documented, for example, that males have about a twofold greater risk of dying of coronary heart disease than do females, although the reasons for this are still largely unknown. The relationship of hostility with coronary heart disease, on the other hand, is still being examined.
