Objective-Attenuated nocturnal blood pressure (BP) dipping is closely linked to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Self-reported experiences of everyday discrimination have also been associated with negative cardiovascular health outcomes. This study investigated whether an association exists between experiences of everyday discrimination and BP dipping in a biracial sample of Black and White adults.Methods-Seventy-eight hypertensive and normotensive women and men (30 Black and 48 White) reported on their experiences of everyday discrimination (the Everyday Discrimination Scale) and underwent two separate 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) sessions approximately one week apart.Results-Correlation analysis revealed that higher endorsement of everyday discrimination was significantly associated with less diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and systolic blood pressure (SBP) dipping (p <0.05). Subsequent hierarchical regression analyses indicated that everyday discrimination explained 8-11% of the variance in SBP and DBP dipping above and beyond other demographic and lifestyle-related factors including race, age, 24-hour BP, body mass index (BMI), and current socioeconomic status (SES). The relationship between discrimination and dipping was significantly stronger on the second night of monitoring. Finally, analyses revealed that everyday discrimination mediated the relationship between race and BP dipping.Conclusions-These findings suggest that experiences of everyday discrimination are associated with less nocturnal SBP and DBP dipping above and beyond the effect of known covariates. The use of multiple ABPM sessions may facilitate the detection of relationships between psychological variables and BP dipping.

The problem-solving model may help identify ineffective problem-solving patterns in persons with poor diabetes control. Empirical studies testing the model are warranted.