Interactive effects of traits, states, and gender on cardiovascular reactivity during different situations

Abstract

Interactive effects of anger and anxiety traits, negative affect state, different situations, and gender on cardiovascular reactivity (CVR) to stress were examined. Subjects (91 men, 92 women) performed a reaction time task under either a Social Evaluation, a Harassment, or a Control condition; SBP, DBP, and HR were recorded continuously. Hierarchical multiple regressions revealed intricate interactions. The interaction of anger expression style and anger experience was significant only among men, such that anger suppressors with high trait anger showed the largest CVR of any group during Harassment; anger expressors exhibited generally high CVR across conditions. However, anger expression style and state negative affect interacted to affect CVR in both men and women. Finally, the fear of negative evaluation predicted elevated DBP responses only among men in the Social Evaluation condition. Results imply that the extent to which traits of anger and anxiety contribute to coronary risk may depend on interactions with other traits, gender, and the environment.