| The "mind-body" problem has roots back to the ancient Greeks. This study focused on a modern day version. A physiological stress test represented the "body" while a battery of psychological tests, including Derogatis' SCL-90-R and the work of Andrews and Withey's wellness dimensions, represented the "mind". These assessments were explored through the use of canonical analysis to determine any relationships. Interviewing was also done to sample perceptions of the subjects.;Forty-nine (49) subjects were randomly chosen from a list of participants in a cardiac stress testing program from the Newtown Fitness Club in Newtown, PA. Subjects were telephoned to request their participation, then sent a Lifestyle Questionnaire.;Subjects were stress tested at Holy Redeemer Hospital in Meadowbrook, PA. Questionnaires were printed and processed at the University of Virginia through a grant provided to the Darden School of Business Administration.;The results indicated that psychological measures of wellness and psychopathology have high inter-group correlations while the physiological information had much smaller inter-group relationships. This made the interpretation of any relationship between the physiological measures with psychological measures difficult. Because of the low number of subjects, the canonical correlations were treated cautiously.;Twenty percent of the Ss were interviewed. The major qualities cited in regards to maintaining psychophysiological well-being were: high self-esteem, optimism, family support, reduced stress, and a desire to live longer.;Anxiety, as measured on a psychopathology scale, had three physiological dimensions correlate (peak work load ;Age appeared to correlate with overall life satisfaction (.34). Some relationships appeared to have an explanation while others may have been the result of the small sampling. For example, total cholesterol and money were correlated at.31 (perhaps a measure of affluence and rich food); feelings of satisfaction with family correlated negatively with peak work load (;The linear transformations of canonical analysis were treated cautiously, however, they did indicate a psychophysical relationship. Interesting relationships were cited from the correlational matrix that permitted review of these psychophysiological connections. Not reviewed as an hypotheses, but of interest was an inverse relationship between body fat and the "feelings of job satisfaction" scale in the categories of challenge (... |
