EFFECTS OF CYNICAL HOSTILITY, ANGER OUT, ANXIETY, AND DEFENSIVENESS ON AMBULATORY BLOOD-PRESSURE IN BLACK-AND-WHITE COLLEGE-STUDENTS

This study asked whether individual differences in four personality tr aits (cynical hostility, anger out, anxiety, and defensiveness) would predict waking and sleeping ambulatory blood pressure and heart rate a nd whether information about these traits would provide a source of ra cial and gender differences in these measures. Ambulatory blood pressu re and heart rate were recorded over a 24-hour period in 58 black and 86 white college students equally divided by gender. Waking and sleepi ng values were examined as a function of gender, race, and personality factors. Independent of personality factors, women had lower ambulato ry blood pressure and higher heart rate than men, and black subjects h ad higher blood pressure levels and less of a decrease in heart rate f rom waking to sleeping than white subjects. The above differences were associated with personality factors. Black subjects scoring high on c ynical hostility had elevated daytime and nighttime systolic pressure. Black subjects scoring high on both anxiety and defensiveness had hig her waking diastolic blood pressure. Additional effects were shown for heart rate as a function of anger out, anxiety, and defensiveness. Gi ven the special significance of ambulatory blood pressure for cardiova scular disease, these findings underscore the importance of personalit y factors for cardiovascular risk and their relevance for race and gen der differences in this risk.