SOCIAL SUPPORT AND HOSTILITY INTERACT TO INFLUENCE CLINIC, WORK, AND HOME BLOOD-PRESSURE IN BLACK-AND-WHITE MEN AND WOMEN

The effects of hostility and social support on clinic, work, and home systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressures were evaluated in 1 29 healthy adults. High hostility was related to higher SBP and DBP in Whites; low hostility was related to higher SBP and DBP in Blacks. Th ese relationships were significant for men at home and at work and for women at screening. The relationship between low hostility and higher BP in Blacks was largely due to Black men who reported low hostility plus high anger-in (suggesting suppressed hostility). In contrast, hig h hostile Black men with high tangible support tended to exhibit lower BP than all other Black men. In White women, high belonging support w as related to lower BP, independent of hostility, and low tangible sup port plus high hostility was related to higher clinic BP. In high host ile subjects, regardless of ethnicity or gender, high appraisal suppor t was related to lower overall BP. These data suggest that the adverse BP effects of hostility and the beneficial effects of social support interact in a complex manner, reflecting contextual, ethnic, and gende r specificities.