Marital Dissolution and Blood Pressure Reactivity: Evidence for the Specificity of Emotional Intrusion-Hyperarousal and Task-Rated Emotional Difficulty

Abstract

Objective To assess blood pressure (BP) reactivity as recently separated adults completed a laboratory task asking to mentally reflect on their relationship experiences. Marital separations and the experience of divorce are associated with increased risk for early mortality and poor health outcomes. Few studies, however, have investigated the potential psychophysiological mechanisms that may account for these broad-based associations. Method Seventy recently separated or divorced community-dwelling adults (26 men) completed self-report measures of divorce-related psychological adjustment. During a laboratory visit, quasi-continuous BP was assessed across four task periods, including a divorce-specific mental activation task (DMAT). A task-rated emotional difficulty (TRED) index was computed based on participants’ immediate appraisals of the task demands. Results After accounting for relevant health-related covariates and depressed mood, participants who reported higher degrees of divorce-related emotional intrusion and physical hyperarousal demonstrated significantly elevated resting BP at entry into the study. When assessing change from a within-person control task to the DMAT, a three-way interaction indicated that men reporting high TRED scores evidenced significant increases in BP, whereas men reporting low TRED scores evidenced significant decreases in BP. Women evidenced no significant changes in BP across study periods. Conclusions Results suggest that divorce-related emotional intrusion-hyperarousal and real-time ratings of emotional difficulty (when people think about their separation experience) may play a specific role in BP reactivity, especially for men. These data shed new light on the potential mechanisms that may link marital dissolution and poor health.

Associations of military divorce with mental, behavioral, and physical health outcomes

“…Recent research has shown that divorce is a risk factor for depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and elevated resting blood pressure, and is associated with other disorders such as seasonal affective disorder, social phobias, and bipolar disorder [5–7, 9]. Conversely, divorce has been linked to increased physical fitness in men [8].…”

Alexithymia and vaginismus: a preliminary correlation perspective

“…Another limitation is the lack of assessment of the quality of the patients' relationship with their partners. [33][34][35] These aspects together to the relationships among female sexuality, emotional regulation and other gynaecological disorders are currently being examined in our laboratory.…”

The Effect of Divorce on Cardiac Autonomic Functions inWomen: Relationship Between Hamilton Anxiety Score and Heart Rate Variability

“…It has been shown that divorced adults have significantly higher resting blood pressure and have a higher incidence of coronary artery disease. 4,20 A study by Engstrom et al assessed the levels of inflammatory proteins and incidence of cardiovascular disease in healthy men. They found that the incidence of coronary events, and levels of inflammatory proteins were significantly increased in divorced men.…”