JOB STATUS AND HIGH-EFFORT COPING INFLUENCE WORK BLOOD-PRESSURE IN WOMEN AND BLACKS

Work-related stress has been associated with an increased risk of hype rtension and more severe cardiovascular problems in white men but has been less studied in women and black men. To determine whether the tra it of high-effort coping (John Henryism) was related to higher blood p ressure during work and laboratory challenges, we studied a biracial s ample of 72 men and 71 women working full time outside the home who un derwent ambulatory blood pressure monitoring for one 8-hour workday. T his was followed by laboratory monitoring of blood pressure during res ting baseline and five brief stressors. Women who were high-effort cop ers and had high status jobs had higher diastolic pressures at work an d in the lab than other women; their pressure levels did not differ fr om those of men, but other women had lower pressures than men. In blac ks, the same combination of high-effort coping plus high job status wa s similarly associated with high work and laboratory diastolic pressur e, as well as higher work systolic pressure. The trait of high-effort coping was observed in the large majority (71%) of the women and black s who had achieved high status jobs but was seen in a minority (36%) o f white men with high status jobs and was unrelated to increased blood pressure in the latter group.