COPING AND BLOOD-PRESSURE

The relationship between psychological coping strategies and BP was an alysed in a group of 158 southern Italian men and women aged 20-59, ra ndomly selected from an epidemiological study on coronary heart diseas e risk factors. Coping strategies were evaluated by use of a self-admi nistered questionnaire (Jalowiec Coping Scale) listing 40 frequently u sed strategies. Factor analysis revealed the reported use of 5 differe nt coping strategies. Males, on average, reported seeking less externa l support than females. In both sexes, increased years of education we re associated with increased use of solution-oriented coping strategie s and decreased use of resignation and sympathy seeking. After adjustm ent for age, alcohol use, body mass index, education and smoking, incr eased use of resignation was associated with lowered BP in both sexes. Emotional coping was inversely related to BP in males. but not in fem ales, The search for external support was associated with a higher BP only in males. These data provide some evidence to suggest that psycho logical coping modalities are related to blood pressure.