Prevalence of Type E multiple-role stress in professional women and impact of social support in affecting general health

This paper gives empirical treatment to the new theoretical Type E construct proposed by Braiker (1986) as an explanation for multiple role stress, by 1) documenting the prevalence of Type E behaviour In career women 2) Investigating the validity of the concept in relation to the Type A behaviour pattern 3) examining the relationship of type E stress to Illness symptoms and 4) studying any stress-buffering effects of social support. Women (N = 166) from the professions of nursing, teaching, business and management, medicine, accountancy, psychology and other helping professions answered a questionnaire relating to type E behaviours and cognitions, social supports available to them and prevalence of psychophysiological Illness symptoms. All women were Involved in multiple roles relating to work, marrlagelpal1nership and chlldrearing. Support was found for the type E construct being independent of the Type A construct, the only overlap occuring for the speed-impatience component or Type A. Type E personality was strongly related to illness symptoms, the cognitive aspect or the syndrome being an even better predictor of symptoms than type E behaviours. No stress-butTering effects of social support were found, though esteem support was found to have a beneficial effect on health independent of type E stress. Implications of the present findings for the family and helping professions are discussed