Defensive Hostility: Psychosocial Correlates and Associations with Cardiovascular Responses

Abstract

An exaggerated cardiovascular response (CVR) to stress has been postulated as a mechanism in the development of coronary artery disease (CAD). Hostility is a personality trait that is linked to CAD and CVR, though nonsignificant associations have also been reported. It is suggested that inconsistent findings in this area sampled populations differing on the trait of Defensiveness (the tendency not to report undesirable self-characteristics). The present research evaluated psychosocial correlates and cardiovascular responses to stress associated with Defensive Hostility (DH), characterized by high scores on Hostility and Defensiveness. DH subjects were compared to Low Hostile (LH -- Low Hostility and Defensiveness), High Hostile (HH-- High Hostility, Low Defensiveness), and Defensive (Def -- Low Hostility, High Defensiveness) subjects. In Study I, 72 men and 73 women completed a battery of personality measures. DH men in comparison to LH, HH and Def men, demonstrated the greatest suppression of anger, less total anger, less positive emotions, and the least social support. However, these results were dependent upon the scale cutpoints used for Hostility and Defensiveness. By contrast, no significant differences were observed for DH women in comparison to LH, HH and Def women on any of the personality measures. In Study II, 34 men and 34 women were evaluated for their cardiovascular responses in response to stressful speech and math tasks. In males, DH men in comparison to Def and HH men, exhibited greater SBP and DBP levels during baseline and tasks. Unexpectedly, LH men exhibited SBP and DBP levels which were not significantly different from those of DH men. By contrast, LH women in comparison to Def, HH and DH women, demonstrated low SBP and DBP levels during baseline and tasks.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 21, 1993
Accession Number
AD1011173

Entities

People

  • Karin Helmers

Organizations

  • Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Applied Psychology
  • Cardiac Imaging Techniques
  • Cardiovascular Diagnostic Techniques
  • Cardiovascular Diseases
  • Cardiovascular Physiological Phenomena
  • Cardiovascular System
  • Health Services
  • Heart Diseases
  • Hostility
  • Human Behavior
  • Medical Personnel
  • Myocardial Ischemia
  • Psychology
  • Social Psychology
  • Surveys
  • Vascular Diseases

Fields of Study

  • Psychology

Readers

  • Aerospace Research.
  • Psychological Intervention/Treatment for Stress, Anxiety, PTSD, and Related Emotional and Cognitive Health Symptoms.
  • Women's Health and Cancer Risk Research: African American Women and Pregnancy Outcomes.