HEMODYNAMIC ADJUSTMENTS TO LABORATORY STRESS - THE INFLUENCE OF GENDER AND PERSONALITY

Exaggerated cardiovascular reactivity to PsYchological stress is a pot ential pathophysiological mechanism linking behavior and cardiovascula r disease. Because of the recognized gender differences in incidence o f cardiovascular disease, potential gender differences in cardiovascul ar reactivity to laboratory stressors have been evaluated. The current study examined the cardiovascular responses of a total of 42 young wo men (N = 22) and men (N = 20) undergoing a laboratory protocol includi ng the following: a nonverbal math task, a mirror tracing task, the St roop Color-Word interference task, and an isometric handgrip task. In addition to the assessment of heart rate and blood pressure, cardiac o utput, stroke volume, total peripheral resistance and preejection peri od were assessed by impedance cardiography, A number of personality ch aracteristics that vary in prevalence by gender were also measured to evaluate their ability to explain potential gender differences in card iovascular responses. Results indicated that men responded with greate r total peripheral resistance and systolic and diastolic blood pressur e responses than did women on a subset of tasks, whereas women exhibit ed larger increases in heart rate on a subset of tasks. Thus, men were more likely to be ''vascular'' reactors, with women being more likely to be ''cardiac'' reactors. Personality characteristics did differ be tween men and women, but did not explain significant variance in the g ender differences in cardiovascular responses. We conclude that additi onal studies should focus on experimental manipulations of potential p hysiological mechanisms responsible for these differences, such as rep roductive hormones. Ke words: gender, cardiovascular reactivity, perso nality.