The study examined whether cardiovascular responses to active or passive coping tasks and single or multiple tasks predicted changes in resting blood pressure (BP) over a ten-month period. Heart rate (HR), BP, cardiac output (CO), and total peripheral resistance (TPR) were measured at rest, and during mental stress tests (mental arithmetic, speech, and cold pressor tasks). A total of 104 eligible participants participated in the initial study, and 77 (74.04%) normotensive adult participants’ resting BP were re-evaluated at ten-month follow-up. Regression analyses indicated that after adjustment for baseline BP, initial age, gender, body mass index, family history of cardiovascular disease, and current cigarette smoking, heighted systolic blood pressure (SBP) and HR responses to an active coping task (mental arithmetic) were associated with increased future SBP (ΔR2 = .060, ΔR2 = .045, respectively). Further, aggregated SBP responsivity (over the three tasks) to the predictor models resulted in significant, but smaller increases in ΔR2 accounting for .040 of the variance of follow-up SBP. These findings suggest that cardiovascular responses to active coping tasks predict future SBP. Further, compared with single tasks, the findings revealed that SBP responses to three tasks were less predictive compared to an individual task (i.e., mental arithmetic). Of importance, hemodynamic reactivity (namely CO and TPR) did not predict future BP suggesting that more general psychophysiological processes (e.g., inflammation, platelet aggregation) may be implicated, or that BP, but not hemodynamic reactivity may be a marker of hypertension.

This study investigated cardiovascular reactivity of hypertensive adults during periods of emotional stress. Two types of instructions were given at different moments, to the same subject, either to express or to suppress feelings during role-play. Expressing, but not inhibiting, emotions elicited significantly higher reactivity during responding to negative scenes, followed by responding during the positive interactions. Blood pressure increases in both expressing and inhibiting conditions, were also found during the instruction periods. Results indicated that socially demanding situations represent a stressor whose effects may vary depending on whether or not respondents regulate expression of emotions. It is suggested that the difficulty in expressing emotions found in some hypertensive individuals may have the function of controlling or reducing blood pressure reactivity.

This paper examines the association of cardiovascular reactivity with thermal thresholds (detection and unpleasantness). Heart period (HP), systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure of 42 health young males were recorded during a cardiovascular reactivity task (a videogame based upon Sidman's avoidance paradigm). Thermal sensitivity, assessing detection and unpleasantness thresholds with radiant heat in the forearm was also estimated for participants. Participants with differential scores in the cardiovascular variables from base line to task ≥ P65 were considered as reactors and those how have differential scores ≤ P35 were considered as non-reactors. Significant differences were observed between groups in the unpleasantness thresholds in blood pressure (BP) but not in HP. Reactors exhibited significant higher unpleasantness thresholds than non-reactors. No significant differences were obtained in detection thresholds between groups.

We examined whether responder type groups reflecting patterns of hemodynamic reactivity might also differ in recovery responses. Cardiac output (CO), total peripheral resistance (TPR), systolic and diastolic blood pressure, heart rate, and Heather index were assessed at rest and during speech and cold pressor tasks in young adults. Participants (n = 152) were classified as myocardial, vascular, or mixed-mild responders based on CO and TPR responses to speech presentation. Vascular responders exhibited slower CO and TPR speech recovery than the myocardial and/or mixed-mild groups. Responder type differences in reactivity showed limited task-generalizability. The sustained vascular response pattern of the vascular group is consistent with that seen in hypertension. In light of associations of heightened TPR with markers of disease risk, this suggests potentially negative health implications for vascular responders.

This report evaluated (a) the temporal stability of hemodynamic responses to three tasks using impedance cardiography, and (b) the influence of aging on stress responses in a multi-ethnic pediatric sample. One hundred children 8 to 10 years old and 49 adolescents 15 to 17 years old were tested at study entry and on average 3 years later. Results showed that the composite task-induced changes in stroke volume (SV), cardiac output (CO), total peripheral resistance (TPR), and pre-ejection period (PEP) were moderately stable across 3 years (rs = .36 to .51), with children showing greater stability in task-induced CO change than did adolescents. However, the magnitude of the participant's stress responses changed over time, varied by task, age group, and gender. These results suggest that hemodynamic responses to stress change with aging during childhood and adolescence and that they can be measured reliably.

This study examines the effects of competition and competitiveness on hemodynamics. Cardiovascular activity was measured in 27 men at resting baseline and during a car racing game, which comprised a solo race against time and three races against an experimenter. To assess hematocrit, blood was collected at rest and after the final race. Trait competitiveness was assessed by questionnaire. Competition elicited increases in hematocrit, blood pressure, heart rate, and total peripheral resistance, as well as decreases in preejection period and heart rate variability. The final race was rated as more competitive than the solo race. Compared to intrapersonal solo racing, the final interpersonal race was associated with shorter preejection periods and faster heart rates, markers of beta-adrenergic activation. Although trait competitiveness was not associated with beta-adrenergic activation, variations in state competitiveness were.

Two dimensions of narcissism were related to psychophysiological responses to stress in 50 young women. Cardiovascular, electrodermal, task performance, and stress appraisal measures were recorded during rest, mental arithmetic, and a computerized Thematic Apperception Test (Murray, 1943). The Egocentricity and Alienation scales of the Bell Object Relations and Reality Testing Inventory (Bell, 1995) served as measures of overt/inflated and covert/deflated narcissism. Egocentricity correlated consistently with heightened preejection period reactivity, whereas Alienation correlated consistently with diminished electrodermal reactivity (all p < .05). Multivariate analyses supported specific relationships between Egocentricity and preejection period hyperreactivity, and between Alienation and electrodermal hyporeactivity. These results have implications for narcissism, cardiovascular disease risk, and a variety of psychiatric disorders.

Physiological stress reactivity has been examined with respect to cynical hostility and anger expression, but primarily among Caucasians. Investigations of African Americans are far fewer and have focused only on the cardiovascular system. This study compared the relationships between hostility and anger expression on the one hand, and both cardiovascular and lipid reactivity on the other, among African Americans and European Americans. Forty-six men participated in a study examining cardiovascular and lipid reactivity to a speech stressor. African American men low in cynical hostility had greater blood pressure reactivity to the stressor; this effect appeared to be due primarily to low cynical men with high Anger In. Independent of ethnicity, those with a general tendency to either always express or always inhibit the expression of anger had higher triglyceride reactivity, relative to those with a more flexible style of anger expression. These results suggest that it is important to examine ethnicity in relationship to measures of hostility and anger expression, to uncover vulnerable individuals.

To examine gender differences in immune reactions to stress and relationships between immune and cardiovascular reactivity, measures of cellular and mucosal immunity and cardiovascular activity were recorded in 77 men and 78 women at rest and in response to active (mental arithmetic) and passive (cold pressor) stress tasks. Both tasks reduced CD4+ T cells and the CD4/8 ratio. Total lymphocytes, NK cells, CD8+ T cells, and secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA) increased with active stress. Passive stress decreased sIgA. At rest, men had more NK cells, less CD4+ T cells, and fewer neutrophils than women. Mental stress increased sIgA in men but not women. Cardiovascular reactivity to active stress was associated with increases in NK cells. The data support the hypothesis that stress-related increases in lymphocytes are beta-adrenergically mediated, and suggest that the fall in CD4+ T cells may be alpha-adrenergically driven. Mechanisms underlying sIgA reactions are more difficult to determine. Men and women differed in some cell counts, but not in reactivity, although gender influenced sIgA reactions to arithmetic.

Age-related structural and functional changes in the cardiovascular, sympathoadrenomedullary (SAM), and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) systems may affect the ability to reliably identify individual differences in response to stress. Heart rate, preejection period, respiratory sinus arrhythmia, respiratory rate, norepinephrine, epinephrine, adrenocorticotropic hormone, and cortisol were assessed in 64 healthy older women (mean = 67 years) in response to a mental arithmetic and public-speaking task. All cardiovascular and endocrine measures changed significantly during the tasks. All measures were consistent across the two tasks (rss = .50 to .97). Moreover, a majority of women in this sample exhibited cross-task consistency in the relative activation of the autonomic, SAM, and HPA systems (i.e., response profiles). Further research is recommended to examine the significance of consistent individual differences in response profile.

Latent growth curve methodology was used to model systolic blood pressure reactivity and recovery from the cold pressor test. A piecewise regression approach permitted the separate but simultaneous modeling of the two components (reactivity and recovery) of the stress process. Data came from a study of 99 participants classified on the basis of gender, ethnicity, and family history of hypertension. Their systolic blood pressure was assessed at rest, during the cold pressor test, and during a task recovery period. A measure of task appraisal and readings from ambulatory blood pressure monitoring during a workday were also examined. The article illustrates a step-by-step approach to modeling reactivity and recovery. Results indicated that both reactivity and recovery were associated with subsequent systolic blood pressure at work.

This study examined the acute immunological effects of two laboratory stressors, expected to evoke distinct patterns of cardiac autonomic activity; namely an “active coping” time-paced memory test, and a “passive coping” stressful video showing surgical operations. We measured salivary S-IgA, IgA-subclasses (IgA1, IgA2), and secretory component (SC). SC is responsible for the transport of S-IgA across the epithelium, and thus a rate-determining step in S-IgA secretion. Thirty-two male undergraduates were subjected to both stressors and a control video (a didactic television program). The memory test induced a typical “fight-flight” response, characterized by increases in heart rate and blood pressure in association with a decrease in cardiac preejection period (PEP) and vagal tone. The surgical video produced a “conservation-withdrawal”-like response, characterized by an enhanced vagal tone, a decrease in heart rate, and a moderate sympathetic coactivation (as indicated by a shortened PEP and an increased systolic pressure). The memory test induced an increase in the concentration and, to a lesser extent, in the output of S-IgA, IgA1, and SC. The output of IgA2 was not significantly affected. For the surgical video, a different pattern emerged: During stressor exposure S-IgA remained unaffected, against the background of a small increase in SC output. However, 10 min after the surgical video S-IgA levels had decreased. This decrease in S-IgA was paralleled by a decrease in IgA1, but not IgA2. We conclude that acute stress can have both enhancing and suppressive effects on secretory immunity, the IgA1 subclass in particular. The mechanisms that underlie these divergent responses may include stressor-specific patterns of autonomic activation.

The pathogenic processes responsible for cardiovascular disease have their origins in childhood. Although children's measures of heart rate and blood pressure have been found to be reliable, the reliability of impedance cardiography derived measures have not been evaluated. Thirty-three children, ages 8–11 participated in two sessions. Stressors included serial subtraction, isometric handgrip, and mirror-image tracing. Results indicated the impedance measures showed moderately high temporal stability (average scores ravg = .74; difference scores ravg = .53) and intertask consistency (average scores ravg = .78; difference scores ravg = .53). Blood pressure demonstrated the lowest reliability; Heather index, preejection period, and stroke volume demonstrated the highest. These findings suggest children's cardiovascular reactivity to laboratory stressors can be reliably and consistently assessed using impedance cardiography.

Blood pressure, heart rate, and changes in facial and finger blood flow were monitored in 24 male Chinese and 24 male Caucasians while they described anger-provoking incidents and read out neutral material, either loudly and rapidly or softly and slowly. Describing the incidents loudly and rapidly heightened anger ratings and enhanced digital vasoconstriction but not blood pressure or heart rate; however, anger enhanced blood pressure during soft, slow speech. Facial blood flow increased during anger expression, irrespective of speech style, but decreased when neutral material was read out. The findings suggest that an increase in facial blood flow reduces peripheral vascular resistance during anger expression, and that baroreflexes attenuate increases in heart rate and blood pressure. Racial background did not influence subjective reports or physiological responses, possibly because the procedure did not draw strongly enough on cultural taboos.

This study provides the first psychophysiological analysis of narcissism by measuring autonomic responses during active and passive anticipatory coping in 40 undergraduate men who scored high or low on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI). Compared to the low NPI group, the high NPI group showed greater preejection period (PEP) shortening, cardiac deceleration, and skin conductance response (SCR) habituation during anticipation of an aversive stimulus (p < .02). As expected, SCR and PEP reactivity were greater during active than passive coping. In the case of PEP, this effect emerged only in the low NPI group; the high NPI group showed the greatest PEP reactivity during the first task, regardless of coping demands. These data support hypothesized relationships among narcissism, psychopathy, and psychological predictors of cardiovascular disease, and suggest that a psychobiological dimension may underlie important features of narcissism.

The impact of evaluative observation on cardiovascular reactivity and adaptation to recurrent psychological stress was evaluated in 162 undergraduate men and women. All participants performed three mental arithmetic tasks with or without evaluative observation. Impedance cardiographic, blood pressure, task performance, and stress appraisal measures were recorded for each task. Evaluative observation moderated the effects of task repetition on cardiac reactivity but not vascular reactivity. The introduction of evaluative observation disrupted cardiac adaptation, resulting in a resurgence of β-adrenergic cardiac reactivity (p < .005), whereas the removal of evaluative observation promoted cardiac adaptation. Evaluative observation also increased stress appraisals and slowed task performance. The results support the dual process theory of habituation, rather than stimulus comparator theory, but only partially support cognitive appraisal theory.

Studies examining the association between laboratory measures of stress-related cardiovascular (CV) reactivity and responses to psychological challenges in the natural environment have yielded mixed results. Frequently, single laboratory tasks have been used to predict responses to natural stressors on a single occasion of measurement. Because aggregation broadens the range of stimuli sampled and reduces measurement error, laboratory-to-life generalizability should be more easily detected when multiple predictor and criterion observations are used. Sixty students in a public speaking course were administered multitask assessments of CV reactivity during two laboratory sessions and during two in-class public speech assignments. CV responses to the classroom speeches were greater among those who showed larger responses in the laboratory, and these associations became stronger as measures were aggregated across multiple samples of behavior. These results support the generalizability of CV reactivity as a measure of individual difference, and they help to shed light on previous inconsistent findings in this area.

This study examined the joint and independent effects of experimentally manipulated social contexts and individual differences in hostility and perceived social support on physiological responses to a social stressor, while illustrating the use of the interpersonal circumplex for integrative social psychophysiological research. Undergraduate women completed a speech task in a supportive, neutral, or provoking context and completed measures of hostility and perceived social support. The provoking context evoked the largest blood pressure and heart rate (HR) responses, followed by the neutral and the supportive context. Social context also influenced HR and electrodermal reactivity during task preparation. Hostility elicited higher systolic blood pressure (SBP) reactivity during preparation, speech, and recovery. Perceived social support interacted with context to affect SBP and HR during speech and preparation. The roles of interpersonal characteristics and contexts in the physiological stress response and the utility of interpersonal methods in studying these associations are discussed.

The effects of prior task exposure on cardiovascular reactivity to stress were examined in two experiments by randomly assigning participants to repeated exposure groups that performed mental arithmetic pretest and test tasks versus delayed exposure groups that performed only the test task after prolonged rest. Impedance cardiographic and blood pressure measures were recorded continuously from 60 undergraduate men in Experiment 1 and 112 undergraduate men and women in Experiment 2. Task repetition attenuated cardiovascular reactivity and improved task performance in repeated exposure groups (p < .001), suggesting an integrated process of behavioral adaptation. During the test task, delayed exposure groups showed greater cardiac reactivity (p < .01), but not vascular reactivity, than repeated exposure groups. Thus, cardiac reactivity varied as a specific function of prior task exposure, whereas vascular reactivity varied as a general function of time.

Facial flushing was studied in 38 young women who scored high or low on trait anger. To induce anger in the subjects, their task was to solve a difficult puzzle, with or without harassment from a female research assistant. Facial blood flow increased in response to provocation, together with increases in cardiovascular and electrodermal activity. Flushing was associated with large increases in electrodermal activity and small increases in diastolic blood pressure. Subjects high in trait anger reported most anger and embarrassment, but physiological activity did not differ from subjects with low trait anger. The findings suggest that sympathetically mediated vasodilatation in facial blood vessels competes with cutaneous vasoconstriction during anger. Unpleasant sensations of facial warmth might heighten aversive emotional experiences, but dilatation of facial blood vessels could also act as a type of “safety valve” by opposing increases in blood pressure. An angry predisposition may influence the subjective experience of anger in women, but does not seem to have a major influence on physiological reactivity to mild provocation.