Familial similarity in pattern a behavior: Fathers and sons

An abbreviate performance battery which measures Pattern A Behavior was administered to 120 sons of men involved in the Western Collaborative Group Study. Of these subjects 79 were sons of fathers who had been classified as demonstrating Pattern A Behavior and 41 subjects were sons of fathers who had been classified as showing the antithesis of Pattern A Behavior, Pattern B. Sons of Pattern A fathers had significantly higher scores, indicative of Pattern A behavior. Both paternal influence and age were identified as factors in the development of the behavior pattern but the mechanisms which operate to make these factors influential in the development of Pattern A Behavior have yet to be clarified.