REACTIVITY RESEARCH ON SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC GROUPS - ITS VALUE TO PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY AND HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY

Research on sociodemographic group differences in cardiovascular react ivity has provided support for the potential importance of reactivity as marker-mediator of susceptibility to cardiovascular disease and has facilitated our understanding of the nature of reactivity itself. The article by Treiber et al. in this issue of Health Psychology exemplif ies this area of reactivity research. Yet sociodemographic group diffe rences in reactivity and other physiological processes are now in them selves in need of explanation. Thus, the principal scientific challeng e facing researchers is the development of testable theoretical models that will facilitate the search for, and ultimate understanding of, t he basis for these group differences. This process will not only clari fy the determinants of sociodemographic group differences in psychophy siological functioning, but may significantly advance the general unde rstanding of biopsychosocial interactions.