Stress-related influences on blood pressure in African American women.
The relationship of blood pressure status to three stress-related variables, anger, coping resources, and strain, was evaluated in 90 African American women. The majority of the participants (57%) were normotensive, 32% of the participants reported current use of hypertensive medication, and an additional 16% had a mean blood pressure greater than 140/90 mmHg but were not on hypertensive therapy. From an analysis using ANCOVA, participants in the latter group were found to have significantly higher scores on rational-cognitive coping resources, controlling for age, waist/hip ratio, and pack-years. No significant differences among the blood pressure groups were found in anger or personal strain. Fostering rational-cognitive coping skills, which represent the ability to problem-solve effectively and to set priorities, may be beneficial for African American women and should be evaluated further in a larger sample.
Webb
Mary S
MS
University of South Florida College of Nursing, Tampa, FL 33612-4799, USA.
Beckstead
Jason W
JW
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000786:Anger; D044383:Black People; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications*; D014481:United States; D001741:Black or African American