Modeling relationships among socioeconomic status, hostility, cardiovascular reactivity, and left ventricular mass in African American and White children

In African American and White children and adolescents (N = 147), socioecon omic status (SES) was measured in 2 ways: (a) using neighborhood-level meas ures of population density, median income, educational attainment, and the number of children born to single mothers and (b) using family-level measur es of parents' occupation and education. Structural equation modeling revea led that both lower family SES and lower neighborhood SES were independentl y associated with greater hostility and consequently greater cardiovascular reactivity to laboratory stressors in African Americans; Independent of ne ighborhood SES, only lower family SES was associated with greater cardiovas cular reactivity in Whites. Heightened cardiovascular reactivity was associ ated with greater left ventricular mass (LVM) in Whites and marginally grea ter LVM in African Americans. Results suggest the importance of using multi ple indicators of SES and confirm the relationship between SES and LVM in A frican Americans and Whites, albeit through different pathways.