Abstract
In this chapter we shall take a somewhat different approach in examining the phenomenon of individual differences in cardiovascular response to stress. Up to now we have focused very much on the individual subject. Here we shall view that individual as a potential member of various groups. A number of specific constitutional factors have been shown to contribute to individual differences in reactivity in important ways (see Light, 1989); included in this list are age, ethnic or racial group, gender, and aerobic fitness. Unlike the first three factors, we can change our aerobic fitness level, and the relevance of doing so is therefore discussed (it is true that age also changes, but in a manner that is neither under voluntary control nor to the liking of most of us). Also in this chapter we shall look at renal and personality influences on reactivity.
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Further Reading
Age
Alpert, B.S., and Wilson, D.K. (1992). Stress reactivity in childhood and adolescence. In J.R. Turner, A. Sherwood, and K.C. Light (Eds.), Individual differences in cardiovascular response to stress (pp. 187–201 ). New York: Plenum.
Lawler, K.A., and Allen, M.T. (1981). Risk factors for hypertension in children: Their relationship to psychophysiological responses. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 23, 199–204.
McCann, B.S., and Matthews, K.A. (1988). Influences of potential for hostility, Type A behavior, and parental history of hypertension on adolescents’ cardiovascular responses during stress. Psychophysiology, 25, 503–511.
Matthews, K.A., Manuck, S.B., and Saab, P.G. (1986). Cardiovascular responses of adolescents during a naturally occurring stressor and their behavioral and psycho-physiological predictors. Psychophysiology, 23, 198–209.
Treiber, F.A., Musante, L., Strong, W.B., and Levy, M. (1989). Racial differences in young children’s blood pressure. American Journal of Diseases of Children, 143, 720–723.
Ethnic or Racial Differences
Anderson, N.B. (1989). Ethnic differences in resting and stress-induced cardiovascular and humoral activity: An overview. In N. Schneiderman, S.M. Weiss, and P.G. Kaufmann (Eds.), Handbook of research methods in cardiovascular behavioral medicine (pp. 433–451 ). New York: Plenum.
Anderson, N.B., McNeilly, M., and Myers, H. (1992). Toward understanding race difference in autonomic reactivity: A proposed contextual model. In J.R. Turner, A. Sherwood, and K.C. Light (Eds.), Individual differences in cardiovascular response to stress (pp. 125–143 ). New York: Plenum.
Light, K.C., and Sherwood, A. (1989). Race, borderline hypertension and hemodynamic responses to behavioral stress before and after beta-adrenergic blockade. Health Psychology, 8, 577–595.
Light, K.C., Turner, J.R., Hinderliter, A., and Sherwood, A. (1993). Race and gender comparisons: I. Hemodynamic responses to a series of stressors. Health Psychology, 12, 354–365. [This paper is also of relevance for the next section.]
Saab, P.G., Llabre, M.M., Hurwitz, B.E., Frame, C.A., Reineke, L.J., Fins, A.I., McCalla, J., Cieply, L.K., and Schneiderman, N. (1992). Myocardial and peripheral vascular responses to behavioral challenges and their stability in black and white Americans. Psychophysiology, 29, 384–397.
Gender Comparisons
Girdler, S.S., Turner, J.R., Sherwood, A., and Light, K.C. (1990). Gender differences in blood pressure control during a variety of behavioral stressors. Psychosomatic Medicine, 52, 571–591.
Matthews, K.A. (1992). Myths and realities of the menopause. Psychosomatic Medicine, 54, 1–9.
Saab, P.G. (1989). Cardiovascular and neuroendocrine responses to challenge in males and females. In N. Schneiderman, S.M. Weiss, and P.G. Kaufmann (Eds.), Handbook of research methods in cardiovascular behavioral medicine (pp. 453–481 ). New York: Plenum.
Stoney, C.M. (1992). The role of reproductive hormones in cardiovascular and neuroendocrine function during behavioral stress. In J.R. Turner, A. Sherwood, and K.C. Light (Eds.), Individual differences in cardiovascular response to stress (pp. 147–163 ). New York: Plenum.
van Doornen, L.J.P. (1986). Sex differences in physiological reactions to real life stress and their relationship to psychological variables. Psychophysiology, 23, 657–662.
Aerobic Fitness
Blumenthal, J.A., Emery, C.F., Walsh, M.A., Cox, D.R., Kuhn, C.M., Williams, R.B., Jr., and Williams, R.S. (1988). Exercise training in healthy Type A middle-aged men: Effects on behavioral and cardiovascular responses. Psychosomatic Medicine, 50, 418–433.
Geus, E.J.C., Doornen, L.J.P., Visser, D.C., and Orlebeke, J.F. (1990). Existing and training induced differences in aerobic fitness: Their relationship to physiological response patterns during different types of stress. Psychophysiology, 27, 457–478.
Fillingim, R.B., and Blumenthal, J.A. (1992). Does aerobic fitness reduce stress responses? In J.R. Turner, A. Sherwood, and K.C. Light (Eds.), Individual differences in cardiovascular response to stress (pp. 203–217 ). New York: Plenum.
Holmes, D.S., and Roth, D.L. (1985). Association of aerobic fitness with pulse rate and subjective responses to psychological stress. Psychophysiology, 22, 525–529.
van Doornen, L.J.P., Geus, E.J.C., and Orlebeke, J.K. (1988). Aerobic fitness and the physiological stress response: A critical evaluation. Social Science and Medicine, 26, 303–307.
Renal Factors
Anderson, D.E., Kearns, W.D., and Worden, T.J. (1983). Potassium infusion attenuates avoidance-saline hypertension in dogs. Hypertension, 5, 415–420.
Falkner, B., and Light, K.C. (1986). The interactive effects of stress and dietary sodium on cardiovascular reactivity. In K.A. Matthews, S.M. Weiss, T. Detre, T.M. Dembroski, B. Falkner, S.B. Manuck, and R.B. Williams, Jr. (Eds.), Handbook of stress, reactivity, and cardiovascular disease, (pp. 329–341 ). New York: Wiley.
Grignolo, A., Koepke, J.P., and Obrist, P.A. (1982). Renal function, heart rate, and blood pressure during exercise and avoidance in dogs. American Journal of Physiology, 242, R482–R490.
Light, K.C. (1992). Differential responses to salt-stress interactions: Relevance to hypertension. In J.R. Turner, A. Sherwood, and K.C. Light (Eds.), Individual differences in cardiovascular response to stress (pp. 245–263 ). New York: Plenum.
Light, K.C., and Turner, J.R. (1992). Stress-induced changes in the rate of sodium excretion in healthy black and white men. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 36, 497–508.
Personality Characteristics
Houston, B.K. (1992). Personality characteristics, reactivity, and cardiovascular disease. In J.R. Turner, A. Sherwood, and K.C. Light (Eds.), Individual differences in cardiovascular response to stress (pp. 103–123 ). New York: Plenum.
Lazarus, R.S., and Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Smith, T.W., McGonigle, M., Turner, C.W., Ford, M.H., and Slattery, M.L. (1991). Cynical hostility in adult male twins. Psychosomatic Medicine, 53, 684–692.
Suarez, E.C., and Williams, R.B. (1989). Situational determinants of cardiovascular and emotional reactivity in high and low hostile men. Psychosomatic Medicine, 51, 404–418.
Ward, M.M., Chesney, M.A., Swan, G.E., Black, G.W., Parker, S.D., and Rosenman, R.H. (1986). Cardiovascular responses of type A and type B men to a series of stressors. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 9, 43–49.
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Turner, J.R. (1994). Constitutional, Renal, and Personality Factors as Contributors to Individual Differences in Reactivity. In: Cardiovascular Reactivity and Stress. The Springer Series in Behavioral Psychophysiology and Medicine. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9579-0_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9579-0_8
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