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Cardiovascular Reactivity and Neuroticism: Results From a Laboratory and Controlled Ambulatory Stress Protocol
Author(s) -
Schwebel David C.,
Suls Jerry
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of personality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.082
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1467-6494
pISSN - 0022-3506
DOI - 10.1111/1467-6494.00048
Subject(s) - neuroticism , stressor , psychology , ambulatory , coping (psychology) , heart rate , reactivity (psychology) , clinical psychology , personality , blood pressure , medicine , social psychology , alternative medicine , pathology
A laboratory and controlled ambulatory protocol was used to study whether there are differences in the cardiovascular reactivity of persons varying in neuroticism, the disposition to experience negative subjective emotions. Thirty‐six individuals (19 men, 17 women) who scored approximately 1 standard deviation above or below the mean on the NEO PI‐R Neuroticism scale (Costa & McCrae, 1992) were recruited from a larger pool of undergraduate students. Participants, who had been outfitted with an ambulatory blood pressure/heart rate monitor, were exposed to 5 laboratory stressors and 7 field stressors during a 6‐hour protocol. Results indicated that individuals scoring high in neuroticism showed blood pressure reactivity to laboratory and field stressors that was comparable to that of persons low in neuroticism. Aggregating responses across stressors, there was evidence of exaggerated heart rate responses. The results suggested that, although neuroticism is related to high levels of negative subjective experience, differences between persons scoring high versus low in neuroticism were not exhibited strongly at the cardiovascular level. The implications for stress, coping, and disease are discussed.