Open AccessPressor effects from daily events and laboratory complex stimuli relating personality factors
Author(s) -
Germanó G.,
Ferrucci A.,
Strano S.,
Molle G.,
Napoleoni M. G.,
Pecchioli V.,
Germanó U.,
Pistone A.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
clinical cardiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.263
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1932-8737
pISSN - 0160-9289
DOI - 10.1002/clc.4960101112
Subject(s) - blood pressure , medicine , anxiety , heart rate , stroop effect , audiology , stressor , psychomotor learning , mental arithmetic , personality , minnesota multiphasic personality inventory , test anxiety , analysis of variance , cold pressor test , cognition , clinical psychology , psychiatry , psychology , social psychology
Our preliminary research has attempted to establish a series of methods to study the complex interactions occurring between pressor reactivity and personality profile. Ten untreated mild hypertensives (age 42.9±8) without damaged target organs were recruited from an outpatient hypertension center along with an equal number of normotensive volunteers (age 38.2±8.1). We performed a sequence of stressor types under laboratory conditions (sensory perceptual activities, psychomotor responses, and cognitive behavior) following an order ranging from inferior levels to superior levels of systemic integration. The subjects also underwent a 24‐h automatic noninvasive blood pressure recording which took into account the situational reactivity. They filled in MMPI and STAI questionnaires before and after the stressor batteries. Only the sensory‐perceptual test (Stroop color test modified), the arithmetic test, and the psychomotor test provoked a significant increase in blood pressure and, in the latter test, also a significant increase of the heart rate. The test batteries' mean differences were not significant between the two groups. Similarly, the answers to the trait‐anxiety questionnaires did not allow us to make a substantial division between normotensive and hypertensive subjects. On the contrary, the situational anxiety questionnaires showed a significant difference in the score reading preceding and following a task performed by the hypertensive subjects. We observed significant differences for both systolic and diastolic 24‐h blood pressure data in transition from a working situation to the sleeping period. However, there was not a significant difference in hypertensive blood pressure readings recorded during work and at home. The personality structures did not present remarkable differences between the two groups. With reference to the single personality dimensions, we found a number of higher scores expressing difficulty in adapting to social situations, a low capacity for self‐assertion, and a great sense of insecurity.