Psychosocial factors in the development of hypertension

The role of psychosocial factors in human hypertension is being investigate d with three research strategies: epidemiological studies of blood pressure , psychological characteristics and life experience in population samples, naturalistic studies of the covariation between blood pressure, psychologic al state and everyday life events, and experimental studies of cardiovascul ar and neuroendocrine responses to behavioural stimuli. This article summar izes recent research on hypertension and psychological traits, job characte ristics and social support, emphasizing the convergent knowledge deriving f rom complementary research strategies. The roles of stress-induced cardiova scular responses and prejudicial life styles in mediating influences on ris k of hypertension are discussed.