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Cardiovascular Responsivity, Type A Behavior, and Parental History of Heart Disease in Young Women
Author(s) -
Lawler Kathleen A.,
Schmied Lori A.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8986.1986.tb00588.x
Subject(s) - blood pressure , psychology , heart rate , type a and type b personality theory , family history , stroop effect , developmental psychology , stressor , audiology , clinical psychology , cardiology , medicine , psychiatry , cognition , social psychology , personality
ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to examine the physiological responsiveness of Type A and Type B women during interpersonal and individual, competitive stressors. Extreme groups of Types A and B college‐age women were monitored on heart rate and blood pressure while they engaged in an oral history quiz and the Stroop color/word test. Subjects were also subdivided by presence or absence of family history of coronary heart disease. Types A and B women did not differ on blood pressure levels or reactivity; Type A women did show a trend toward a greater increase in heart rate to the color/word task. Women with a positive family history had higher levels of systolic and a trend toward higher levels of diastolic blood pressure. There were no significant interactions of Type A/B with family history. Our conclusion is that Type A behavior is only very weakly, if at all, associated with physiological responsivity in young adult women.