title: Type D personality is associated with a sensitized cardiovascular response to recurrent stress in men.
abstract: The present study sought to examine the role of gender and Type D personality on cardiovascular reactivity to stress, by examining patterns of cardiovascular adaptation to recurrent laboratory-based stress. Cardiovascular data were collected from 76 students who, following an initial 10-min baseline period, underwent two cognitive stress tasks. Type D personality was assessed using the 16-item Type D scale. Adaptation of cardiovascular response to recurrent stress was examined by scrutinizing the changes in systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and heart rate (HR) across the procedure. Female participants and non-Type D males showed cardiovascular habituation to recurrent stress. For Type D males, however, cardiovascular sensitization was evident. The results implicate Type D personality in maladaptive cardiovascular responses, particularly in men, highlighting a possible direct mechanism of psychosomatic cardiovascular pathogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick, South Circular Road, Limerick, Ireland. Electronic address: siobhan.howard@mic.ul.ie.
authors.forename: Siobhán
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Howard
authors.forename: Brian M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Hughes
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011594:Psychometrics; D012095:Repression-Sensitization; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D064415:Type D Personality; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Cardiovascular adaptation; Cardiovascular reactivity; Gender; Type D personality