Gender differences in the relation between tnterview-derived hostility scores and resting blood pressure

Abstract

We examined the correlations between Structured Interview (SI)-derived hostility scores and resting blood pressure (BP) to see if they would be the same or different for healthy men and women. Standard risk factor information and resting BP measures were obtained from 193 undergraduates (109 men, 84 women), who underwent the SI. Subjects were rated for Potential for Hostility, Hostile Style, Intensity and Content, and completed Antagonism and Neuroticism scales. As expected, SI hostility scores were related to higher resting SBP in men, however; in women, they were related to lower resting SBP and Neuroticism. Regression analyses controlling for standard CHD risk factors indicated that SI-derived hostility predicted resting SBP and hypertensive status in both men and women, though in opposite directions. Thus, SI-derived hostility may assess a different construct in women than in men.

Defense Mechanisms and Physiological Reactivity to Stress

“…This finding suggests that the use of denial may involve more cognitive work for men than for women. Also, a gender-based differential relation of DBP to a personality variable has been reported by Davidson, Hall, and MacGregor (1996), who found both DBP and SBP to be predicted by an interaction between gender and an index of hostility. Subsequent testing indicated that hostility predicted higher SBP for men, but lower SBP for women.…”

DSM-5 Pathological Personality Traits Among College Students

“…Research about gender differences in hostility expression is essential both because previous research has proposed that gender stereotypes exist and because former studies have failed to review the existence of a potential gender bias when examining the observation and rating of hostility (Davidson, Hall, & MacGregor, 1996). Of the different kinds of hostility expression, verbal and nonverbal/behavioral hostility are both easily amenable to observation and are seen as more characteristic of women and men, respectively.…”