ANGER SUPPRESSION, REACTIVITY, AND HYPERTENSION RISK - GENDER MAKES ADIFFERENCE

The present study investigated gender-related differences in cardiovas cular reactivity and the role of anger inhibition and risk for future hypertension. Tonic blood pressure sewed as an index of hypertension r isk. Twenty-eight female and 26 male college students with high and lo w normal blood pressure were recruited on the basis of their mean arte rial pressure. Continuous measures of heart rate and blood pressure we re taken while participants carried out a series of behavioral manoeuv res including mental arithmetic, interpersonal challenge, a frustratin g psychomotor test and the cold presser test Participants also complet ed inventories assessing trait anxiety, trait anger; anger expression, and Type A. The results al-e in concordance with previous findings an d show higher cardiovascular reactivity in men than in women and in su bjects at risk for hypertension. Within the male group, a combination of hypertension risk and anger suppression led to the highest reactivi ty, whereas in female subjects, differences in anger-in had no effect on reactivity. The implications of these results are discussed in ligh t of sex differences in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.