Some psychological and social characteristics of patients hospitalized for rheumatoid arthritis, hypertension, and duodenal ulcer

Abstract

This study has compared male patients in a Veterans Administration Hospital with rheumatoid arthritis, hypertension, duodenal ulcer, and certain surgical conditions with their brothers and brothers-in-law. With regard to achievement, desire for change and impulsive behavior, the ulcer patients were high and the rheumatoid arthritics were low. With regard to perception of parents the rheumatoids reported themselves similar to their fathers but more influenced by their mothers while the surgical patients were more influenced by their fathers. In the area of happiness the ulcer patients appear to have led quite happylives, possibly even happier than the non-hospitalized controls while the hypertensives are most unhappy. The perception discrepancy measure suggested that the rheumatoids communicate poorly with their relatives about their hurt feelings. And finally, the measures of aggressive and impulsive behavior separated the four groups of patients from their brothers and brothers-in-law and from each other in a way that is both striking and replicable.