EFFECT OF TRAIT HOSTILITY ON CARDIOVASCULAR-RESPONSES TO HARASSMENT IN YOUNG MEN

Hostile individuals may experience more extreme and frequent episodes of anger than nonhostile persons and thus may have exaggerated physiol ogical responses to their environments. Such responses may be associat ed with increased risk of cardiovascular disease. This study examined cardiovascular responses of 24 low- versus 21 high-hostile young men t o a mental arithmetic task administered with and without provocation i n a 2 x 2 (Groups x Tasks) repeated measure design. Hostility classifi cations were based on weighted interview ratings of Potential for Host ility. As predicted, high-hostile men showed differentially greater he art rate, blood pressure, and rate-pressure product changes only in re sponse to the task administered with harassment (ps < .05). Similarly, high-hostile men reported more distress, tenseness, irritation, and g reater concentration during the harassing task, compared to low-hostil e men (ps < .05). Also, the harassing task elicited greater increases in vascular resistance and greater decreases in stroke volume for all subjects, relative to the neutral task (ps < .003). Results suggest th at hostile persons faced with anger-evoking situations may produce a c onstellation of exaggerated cognitive-emotional and cardiovascular res ponses consistent with increased risk of cardiovascular disease.