Avoidance may be bad for the heart: a comparison of dyadic initiator tendency in cardiac rehabilitation patients and matched controls.
The psychophysiologic model of marital distress proposes that demand/withdraw dyadic communication activates cardiovascular reactivity in the withdrawing partner, which eventually leads to cardiac illness. Thirty-one patients (23 men and 8 women) in a cardiac rehabilitation program were matched to community controls. Participants completed the Initiator Style Questionnaire, a measure of a person's tendency to initiate relationship problem discussions. As hypothesized, cardiac rehabilitation patients (M = 42.53, 95% CI 37.6-47.5) reported being less likely to initiate relationship problem discussions than did community controls (M = 60.79, 95% CI 54.7-66.8). Consistent with the model, cardiac patients rated themselves as less initiating (M = 39.12, 95% CI 32.96-45.28) than they rated their partners (M = 45.94, 95% CI 38.98-52.90); in contrast, matched controls rated themselves as more initiating (M = 63.04, 95% CI 57.36-68.70) than they rated their partners (M = 58.54, 95% CI 42.98-67.78). Further analysis found that female patients accounted for this finding. The results add further support for the psychophysiologic model.
Denton
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WH
Department of Health & Exercise Science, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75392-9121, USA. wayne.denton@utsouthwestern.edu
Burleson
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Brubaker
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PH
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000072038:Cardiac Rehabilitation; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D018454:Spouses; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires