title: Defensiveness, cynical hostility and cardiovascular reactivity: a moderator analysis.
abstract: We examined the interaction of a defensive need for approval with cynical hostility, in the prediction of pressor and heart rate reactivity to a stressful mental arithmetic task. For both systolic blood pressure and heart rate, analyses revealed the predicted interaction between defensiveness and cynical hostility; subsequent analyses showed significant correlations of defensiveness with systolic blood pressure and heart rate reactivity only among the high cynical hostility subjects. These analyses support the theory and empirical findings linking the conflicting traits of cynical hostility and defensiveness to cardiovascular reactivity and, quite possibly, to stress-related coronary disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Syracuse University, N.Y. 13244-2340, USA.
authors.forename: R S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Jorgensen
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Abdul-Karim
authors.forename: T A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Kahan
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Frankowski
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D002320:Cardiovascular Physiological Phenomena; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006791:Hostility; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D013599:Systole