Phillips, A.C., Carroll, D., Hunt, K., & Der, G. (2006). The effects of the spontaneous presence of a spouse/partner and others on cardiovascular reactions to an acute psychological challenge. Psychophysiology, 43, 633-640 (original) (raw)
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The presence of supportive others has been associated with attenuated cardiovascular reactivity in the laboratory. The effects of the presence of a spouse and others in a more naturalistic setting have received little attention. Blood pressure and heart rate reactions to mental stress were recorded at home in 1028 married/partnered individuals. For 112 participants, their spouse/partner was present; for 78, at least one other person was present. Women tested with a spouse/partner present showed lower magnitude systolic blood pressure and heart rate reactivity than those tested without. Individuals tested with at least one nonspousal other present also displayed attenuated reactivity. This extends the results of laboratory studies and indicates that the spontaneous presence of others is associated with a reduction in cardiovascular reactivity in an everyday environment; spouse/partner presence would appear to be especially effective for women.
Background Exaggerated cardiovascular reactions to psychological stress are considered a risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity. Social support may reduce such risk by attenuating cardiovascular reactivity to stress. Purpose To examine the effects of three independent social support variables and their interaction on cardiovascular reactivity to acute stress. The variables were stranger or friend presence, active supportive or passive presence, and male or female presence. Methods Cardiovascular reactions to mental arithmetic stress were measured in 112 healthy young women tested in one of eight distinct independent conditions: active supportive male friend; active supportive female friend; passive male friend; passive female friend; active supportive male stranger; active supportive female stranger, passive male stranger; and passive female stranger. Results Support from a friend rather than a stranger was associated with attenuated blood pressure reactivity, but only when the supporter was a male friend. Support from a male stranger or female friend was associated with augmented blood pressure reactivity. Conclusions This interaction between the intimacy and sex of the supporter on cardiovascular reactivity extends the findings of previous laboratory studies of social support and can, to an extent, be interpreted in terms of the Social Comparison Theory.
Cardiovascular Reactivity During Positive and Negative Marital Interactions
Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 2007
Marriage reduces risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) but marital stress increases risk, perhaps through cardiovascular reactivity (CVR). However, previous studies have lacked controls necessary to conclude definitively that negative marital interactions evoke heightened CVR. To test the specific effects of marital stress on CVR, 114 couples engaged in positive, neutral, or negative interactions in which speaking and task involvement were controlled. Compared to positive and neutral conditions, negative discussions evoked larger increases in systolic blood pressure, heart rate, and cardiac output, and larger decreases in peripheral resistance and pre-ejection period-similarly for men and women. Hence, CVR could contribute to the effects of marital difficulties on CVD. Previous evidence of sex differences in this effect might reflect factors other than simple reactivity to negative interactions.
The effect of social support and physical touch on cardiovascular reactions to mental stress
Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 1992
To examine the effects of social support on cardiovascular reactions to behavioral stress, the present study tested the relative contribution of three elements of social support: the presence of angther person in the laboratory; the presence of a person considered to be a friend; and physical touch. Sixty undergraduate females were assigned to one of the following groups: alone (A); friend present-touch (FT); friend present-no touch (FNT); stranger present-touch (ST); and stranger present-no touch (SNT). Heart rate (HR), systolic blood pressure @BP), and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) measures were obtained across baseline phases and during presentation of two behavioral challenges (mental arithmetic, mirror-tracing). The findings suggest that neither the presence of a stranger nor physical touch are related to attenuated cardiovascular reactions to stress; rather, if the extent of cardiovascular reactivity is related to social support, the presence of a friend may be the important mediating variable.
52-EFFECTS OF ROMANTIC PARTNER INTERACTION ON PSYCHO-BIOLOGICAL STRESS-PROTECTION IN WOMEN
Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 2004
In animal studies, positive social interaction and physical contact play a preeminent role in the control of behavioral and neuroendocrine responses to stress. The aim of this study was to determine whether specific kinds of couple interaction reduce hypothalamic-pituitaryadrenal (HPA) and autonomic responses to psychosocial stress in women. Sixty-seven women, aged 20-37 years, who had been married or cohabiting with a male partner for at least 12 months at the time of the study, were exposed to a standardized psychosocial laboratory stressor (Trier Social Stress Test). Participants were randomly assigned to three study groups differing in the type of a 10-min period of social interaction with their partner prior to stress: n ¼ 25 with no partner interaction, n ¼ 22 with verbal social support, and n ¼ 20 with physical contact (standardized neck and shoulder massage). Salivary free cortisol levels, plasma levels of oxytocin, heart rate, and psychological responses to stress were compared among the three study groups. Women with positive physical partner contact before stress exhibited significantly lower cortisol and heart rate responses to stress but no different plasma oxytocin levels compared to women who received social support or no social interaction. Verbal social
Gender, Social Support, and Cardiovascular Responses to Stress
Psychosomatic Medicine, 1999
Objective: Laboratory research indicates that the presence of a supportive other can reduce physiological responses to a stressor. Whether there are gender differences, either on the part of the provider or the recipient, in this social support effect is explored. Such differences might shed some light on the frequent epidemiological reports of gender differences in social support and health. Methods: Male and female subjects gave an impromptu speech and received either standardized supportive or nonsupportive feedback from a male or female confederate. Blood pressure and heart rate were monitored continuously during baseline and speech periods. Results: Speakers with a supportive female audience showed a systolic increase of 25 mm Hg over baseline. Those with a nonsupportive female audience increased 36 mm Hg. A supportive male audience led to increases of 32 mm Hg, and a nonsupportive male audience 28 mm Hg. There was no significant effect of gender of subject. Conclusions: Results indicate that social support provided by women reduced cardiovascular changes for both male and female speakers compared with presence of a nonsupportive female audience. Social support from men did not. These findings suggest a possible mechanism that might help explain the epidemiological literature on the relationship between gender, social support, and health. The findings are consistent with the notion that married men are healthier because they marry women. Women do not profit as much from marriage or suffer as much from separation, in terms of health outcomes, because the support they gain or lose is the less effective support of a man. These findings render more plausible the possibility that differences in social support might contribute to health differences, through the dampening of cardiovascular responses to stress.
Agency, communion, and cardiovascular reactivity during marital interaction
Health Psychology, 1998
The concepts of agency and communion have been used to describe sex differences in vulnerability to specific stressor domains. This study examined blood pressure and heart rate responses of 60 married couples to experimental manipulations of disagreement (i.e., communion stressor) and achievement challenge (i.e., agency stressor). Consistent with predictions, disagreement elicited heightened cardiovascular reactivity among wives, but not husbands. In contrast, the achievement challenge elicited heightened cardiovascular reactivity among husbands, but not wives. Participants' responses to a circumplex measure of interpersonal appraisal were consistent with the interpretation of differential responses to agency and communion stressors. Results are congruent with a situational approach to sex differences in cardiovascular reactivity and illustrate the utility of interpersonal methods in the explication of psychosocial risk for cardiovascular disease.
Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 1998
Social relationships have been shown to be health-protective and to improve cardiovascular disease prognosis. One of the mechanisms by which social relationships may alter health status is through altering patterns of neuroendocrine or hemodynamic responding to ongoing activity. For example, research with non-human primates suggests that disrupted social relationships may increase cardiovascular risk through their effects on sympathetic nervous system activation. In humans, a number of recent reports have shown that the presence of an affiliative companion can reduce cardiovascular activity during psychologically challenging tasks, results which are consistent with this proposed mechanism of effect. We review the recent human literature which has examined the effects of the social environment on stress-related cardiovascular activity. Although findings in this literature are generally consistent, recent anomalous results are reviewed which shed light on some of the context-dependent effects of social affiliation. Additional areas for further investigation are examined, including possible mechanisms for explaining these social affiliation effects, individual differences which may moderate these effects, and emerging methodological advances for examining how these effects may generalize to the natural environment.
Spouses' Cardiovascular Reactivity to Their Partners' Suffering
The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 2010
A laboratory study of older adults with osteoarthritis and their spouses was conducted to examine the unique influence of exposure to suffering on caregivers' risk for impaired psychological and physical health. Spouses' blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) were monitored during 2 tasks designed to capture their partners' suffering. First, spouses watched their partners (and a stranger) carry heavy logs across an 8-ft space for 3 min, a task that elicited pain expression. Second, spouses spoke about their partners' suffering (and also about a typical meal with their partners). Results showed that spouses' BP and HR increased when watching and talking about their partners' suffering, and exposure to a partner's suffering was more physiologically stressful than to a stranger's suffering. These findings suggest that heightened physiological stress caused by exposure to a loved one's suffering may be one pathway to caregivers' increased risk for cardiovascular disease.