title: Social interactions and cardiovascular reactivity during problem disclosure among friends.
abstract: The authors examined the relations of social interactions with cardiovascular response in the context of two friends disclosing a problem. They also examined the relations of the sex composition of the dyad and partner gender-related traits (communion/agency) with social interactions. Same-sex and opposite-sex dyads (N = 79) came to the lab. One friend disclosed a real-life problem while the partner provided support; cardiovascular response was monitored. Women provided more emotional support than men, and this sex difference was due to women's higher levels of communion. Agency was linked with greater advice, whereas unmitigated communion was linked with greater negative interactions. Negative interactions predicted slower diastolic blood pressure (DBP) recovery, whereas advice predicted slower heart rate (HR) recovery. Sex composition of dyad moderated some of these effects.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY 13699-5825, USA. fritzh@clarkson.edu
authors.forename: Heidi L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Fritz
authors.forename: Alexander J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Nagurney
authors.forename: Vicki S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Helgeson
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002319:Cardiovascular System / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012650:Self Disclosure; D012737:Sex Factors; D012944:Social Support; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014481:United States