Abstract
To examine the relation between hostility and cardiovascular reactivity to stress, 42 undergraduate men were categorized into high and low hostile groups based on responses to the Cook Medley Hostility Scale. Participants engaged in two laboratory tasks: a Cognitive Task (mental arithmetic) and a Social Task (confrontation role-play). Cardiovascular measures of heart rate and blood pressure were obtained throughout rest and task periods and participants provided ratings of state anger and forgiveness following task completion. Results revealed that low hostile participants exhibited greater systolic blood pressure (SBP) responses to both tasks than high hostile participants (p < .05), but no significant group differences were observed for heart rate or diastolic blood pressure. High hostile men reported greater state anger during resting conditions and less forgiveness following completion of tasks than low-hostile counterparts, but neither of these findings moderated the relation between hostility and SBP reactivity. Higher ratings of forgiveness were associated with lower SBP reactivity. These findings show that hostility is not always associated with exaggerated cardiovascular reactivity to stress, and the influence of various moderating factors should be considered in elucidating this relation.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barefoot, J. C., Dahlstrom, W. G., & Williams, R. B. (1983). Hostility, coronary heart disease incidence and total mortality: A 25 year follow up study of 255 physicians. Psychosomatic Medicine, 45, 59–63.
Barefoot, J. C., Dodge, K. A., Peterson, B. L., Dahlstrom, W. G., & Williams, R. B. (1989). The Cook–Medley hostility scale: Item content and ability to predict survival. Psychosomatic Medicine, 51, 46–57.
Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical consideration. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173–1182.
Berry, J. W., & Worthington, E. L., Jr. (2001). Forgiveness, relationship quality, stress while imagining relationship events, and physical and mental health. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 48, 447–455.
Berry, J. W., Worthington, E. L., Jr., O’Connor, L. E., Parrott, L., & Wade, N. G. (2005). Forgiveness, vengeful rumination, and affective traits. Journal of Personality, 73, 183–226.
Bongard, S., al’Absi, M., & Lovallo, W. R. (1998). Interactive effects of trait hostility and anger expression on cardiovascular reactivity in young men. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 28, 181–191.
Burns, J., & Katkin, E. (1993). Psychological, situational, and gender predictors of cardiovascular reactivity to stress: A multivariate approach. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 16, 445–465.
Carroll, D., Smith, G. D., Sheffield, D., Shipley, M. J., & Marmot, M. G. (1997). The relationship between socioeconomic status, hostility, and blood pressure reactions to mental stress in men: Data from the Whitehall II study. Health Psychology, 16, 131–136.
Chen, Y. Y., Gilligan, S., Coups, E. J., & Contrada, R. J. (2005). Hostility and perceived social support: Interactive effects on cardiovascular reactivity to laboratory stressors. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 29, 37–43.
Christensen, A. J., & Smith, T. W. (1993). Cynical hostility and cardiovascular reactivity during self-disclosure. Psychosomatic Medicine, 55, 193–202.
Cook, W. W., & Medley, D. M. (1954). Proposed hostility and pharisaic-virtue scales for the MMPI. Journal of Applied Psychology, 38, 414–418.
Felsten, G. (1995). Cynical hostility influences anger, but not cardiovascular reactivity during competition with harassment. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 19, 223–231.
Finney, M. L., Stoney, C. M., & Engebretson, T. O. (2002). Hostility and anger expression in African American and European American men is associated with cardiovascular and lipid reactivity. Psychophysiology, 39, 340–349.
Guyll, M., & Contrada, R. J. (1998). Trait hostility and ambulatory cardiovascular activity: Responses to social interaction. Health Psychology, 17, 30–39.
Hardy, J. D., & Smith, T. W. (1988). Cynical hostility and vulnerability to disease: Social support, life stress, and physiological responses to conflict. Health Psychology, 7, 447–459.
Houston, B. K. (1988). Cardiovascular and neuroendocrine reactivity, global type A, and components of type A behavior. In B. K. Houston & C. R. Snyder (Eds.), Type A behavior pattern: Research, theory, and intervention (pp. 212–253). New York: Wiley.
Houston, B. K., Smith, M. A., & Cates, D. S. (1989). Hostility patterns and cardiovascular response to stress. Psychophysiology, 26, 337–342.
Kamarck, T. W., Manuck, S. B., & Jennings, J. R. (1990). Social support reduces cardiovascular reactivity to psychological challenge: A laboratory model. Psychosomatic Medicine, 52, 42–58.
Larkin, K. T., Semenchuk, E. M., Frazer, N. L., Suchday, S., & Taylor, R. L. (1998). Cardiovascular and behavioral response to social confrontation: Measuring real-life stress in the laboratory. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 20, 294–301.
Lawler, K. A., Younger, J. W., Piferi, R. L., Billington, E., Jobe, R., Edmondson, K., et al. (2003). A change of heart: Cardiovascular correlates of forgiveness in response to interpersonal conflict. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 26, 373–393.
McCullough, M. E., Rachal, K. C., Sandage, S. J., Worthington, E. L., Brown, S. W., & Hight, T. L. (1998). Interpersonal forgiving in close relationships: Theoretical elaboration and measurement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 1586–1603.
Miller, S. B., Dolgoy, L., Friese, M., & Sita, A. (1998). Parental history of hypertension and hostility moderate cardiovascular responses to interpersonal conflict. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 28, 193–206.
Miller, T. Q., Smith, T. W., Turner, C. W., Guijarro, M. L., & Hallet, A. J. (1996). Meta-analytic review of research on hostility and physical health. Psychological Bulletin, 119, 322–348.
Neumann, J. K., & Chi, D. S. (1999). Relation of church going to immunological and TxPA stress response. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 27, 43–51.
Niaura, R., Todaro, J. F., Stroud, L., Spiro, A., Ward, K. D., & Weiss, S. M. (2002). Hostility, the metabolic syndrome, and incidence of coronary heart disease. Health Psychology, 21, 588–593.
Piferi, R. L., & Lawler, K. A. (2000). Hostility and the cardiovascular reactivity of women during interpersonal confrontation. Women and Health, 30, 111–129.
Pope, M. K., Smith, T. W., & Rhodewalt, F. (1990). Cognitive, behavioral, and affective correlates of the Cook and Medley hostility scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 54, 501–514.
Rhodes, R. D., Harrison, D. W., & Demaree, H. A. (2002). Hostility as a moderator of physical reactivity and recovery to stress. International Journal of Neuroscience, 112, 167–186.
Richman, L. S., Bennett, G. G., Pek, J., Siegler, I., & Williams, R. B., Jr. (2007). Discrimination, dispositions, and cardiovascular responses to stress. Health Psychology, 26, 675–683.
Rosenman, R. H. (1978). The interview method of assessment of the coronary-prone behavior pattern. In T. M. Dembrowski, S. M. Weiss, J. L. Shields, S. G. Haynes, & M. Feinleib (Eds.), Coronary-prone behavior (pp. 55–70). New York: Springer-Verlag.
Seybold, K. S., Hill, P. C., Neumann, J. K., & Chi, D. S. (2001). Physiological and psychological correlates of forgiveness. Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 20, 250–259.
Smith, T. W. (2006). Personality as risk and resilience in physical health. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 15, 227–231.
Smith, T. W., & Brown, P. C. (1991). Cynical hostility, attempts to exert social control, and cardiovascular reactivity in married couples. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 14, 581–592.
Smith, T. W., & Frohm, K. D. (1985). What’s so unhealthy about hostility: Construct validity and psychosocial correlates of the Cook and Medley Ho scale. Health Psychology, 4, 503–520.
Smith, T. W., & Houston, B. K. (1987). Hostility, anger expression, cardiovascular responsivity, and social support. Biological Psychology, 24, 39–48.
Spielberger, C. D. (1988). State-trait anger expression inventory professional manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.
Suarez, E. C., Harlan, E., Peoples, M. C., & Williams, R. B., Jr. (1993). Cardiovascular and emotional responses in women: The role of hostility and harassment. Health Psychology, 12, 459–468.
Suarez, E. C., & Williams, R. B., Jr. (1989). Situational determinants of cardiovascular and emotional reactivity in high and low hostile men. Psychosomatic Medicine, 51, 404–418.
Suarez, E. C., & Williams, R. B., Jr. (1990). The relationships between dimensions of hostility and cardiovascular reactivity as a function of task characteristics. Psychosomatic Medicine, 52, 558–570.
Suls, J., & Wan, C. K. (1993). The relationship between trait hostility and cardiovascular reactivity: A quantitative review and analysis. Psychophysiology, 30, 615–626.
Witvliet, C. V., Ludwig, T. E., & VanderLaan, K. L. (2001). Granting forgiveness or harboring grudges: Implications for emotion, physiology, and health. Psychological Science, 12, 117–123.
Acknowledgments
This study was conducted as a dissertation project of the first author, in partial fulfillment for requirements for a doctoral degree from West Virginia University. The authors would like to thank Sean O’Quinn, Benjamin Parker, and Brittany Morgan for their invaluable assistance in conducting this study. Funding for this study was provided by a Graduate Student Dissertation Research Grant from the Alumni Affairs Office of West Virginia University.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hernandez, D.H., Larkin, K.T. & Whited, M.C. Cardiovascular Response to Interpersonal Provocation and Mental Arithmetic among High and Low Hostile Young Adult Males. Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback 34, 27–35 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10484-009-9076-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10484-009-9076-3