Type A-B Behavior and Caffeine Use in College Students
It has been demonstrated that Type A college students tend to sleep less ( 4 ) and are mice as likely to report sleep problems (3) than Type B students. In a comprehensive discussion of sleep. disorders, several factors were identified which contribute to insomnia and complaints of sleep problems ( 6 ) . Prominent among these is the use of caffeine. This led us to speculate that there might be differences in daily caffeine ingestion between Type A and Type B students. T o test this hypothesis, we asked 171 college students to respond to the Glass ( 2 ) version of the Jenkins Activity Survey for college students and to estimate their daily consumption (i.e., the number of cups or glasses) of coffee, tea, and cola drinks. T h e Jenkins Survey was scored using the system developed by Glass, and on the basis of local norms ( 5 ) , we defined Type A as Jenkins score 2 9 (i.e., n = 69) and Type B as Jenkins score < 9 (i.e., n = 102). W e computed a rough index of daily caffeine intake for each student by summing the reported daily number of units of coffee, tea, and cola drinks. The mean dumber of caffeine-bearing drinks for the two groups was significantly different, i.e., for the Type As, M = 3.25 2 2.40; for the Type Bs, M = 2.10 2 1.95. with t,, = 3.31, p < .01. Put differently, the self-reported caffeine intake of the Type A group was about 50% greater than that reported by Type B group. This finding is consisreor with rhe fact chat Type As are more likely to experience sleep problems than Type Bs. Their greater use of this stimulant is also congruent with the behavior described as the major symptom of Type A behavior ( I ) , i.e., a sense of time urgency or 'hurry sickness.' Finally, these data suggest that perhaps greater attention should be paid,to the dietary factors that may be assoc~ated with the Type A syndrome.