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Effects of Hostility on Alcohol Stress‐Response‐Dampening
Author(s) -
Zeichner Amos,
Giancola Peter R.,
Allen Joseph D.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
alcoholism: clinical and experimental research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 153
eISSN - 1530-0277
pISSN - 0145-6008
DOI - 10.1111/j.1530-0277.1995.tb00977.x
Subject(s) - hostility , stressor , blood pressure , alcohol , heart rate , reactivity (psychology) , psychology , alcohol consumption , placebo , cardiology , medicine , clinical psychology , biochemistry , chemistry , alternative medicine , pathology
The purpose of this study was to compare the stress‐response‐dampening (SRD) effect of alcohol in hostile and nonhostile men based on a combined score of four subscales of the Cook‐Medley Hostility Scale . Subjects were 72 male social drinkers. Subjects' cardiac interbeat‐interval, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure reactivity to a situational stressor were measured following the consumption of either alcohol, no alcohol, or an active placebo beverage. Results demonstrated that hostile men evinced lower heart rate and systolic blood pressure (SBP) reactivity to the stressor when given alcohol, compared with intoxicated nonhostile subjects, and lower reactivity relative to all other groups, with the exception of SBP in the nonhostile controls. These results allow for speculation that hostile men may be more likely than controls to experience possible SRD effects of alcohol and thus, perhaps, be predisposed to increased alcohol consumption when under stress.