title: Defensive hostility and anger expression: relationship to additional heart rate reactivity during active coping.
abstract: The main purpose of the present study was twofold: (a) to assess the relationship between defensive hostility (high hostility/high defensiveness) and additional heart rate reactivity during active coping and (b) to determine if the construct of anger-out might lend additional sensitivity to the predictive power of the defensive hostility model. Forty individuals were randomly assigned to complete a mental arithmetic task with or without the threat of shock. Participants also completed the Cook-Medley Hostility Inventory (Ho), the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (MC), and the Spielberger Anger Expression Scale. Defensive hostile subjects (high Ho/high MC) were significantly more reactive than any other subgroup. In addition, the combination of low Ho/high anger-out scores yielded a subgroup significantly less reactive than any other subgroup. These findings clarify the complex relationship of hostility and cardiovascular reactivity.
authors.affiliation: Behavioral Physiology Laboratory, Syracuse University, NY 13244-2340, USA. mrlarson@mailbox.syr.edu
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Larson
authors.forename: A W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Langer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000786:Anger / Q000502:physiology*; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006791:Hostility; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male