title: Repressive coping and cardiovascular reactivity to novel and recurrent stress.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Repressors tend to report less negative emotion and to describe challenges as less stressful, yet tend to exhibit higher rates of cardiovascular disease. While repressive coping has been shown to be associated with exaggerated physiological reactivity to novel stress, we sought to establish if elevated responses persisted across repeated exposure.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a sample of 86 healthy female adults, a verbal-autonomic response dissociation index of repressive coping was computed. Participants were exposed to two consecutive stress tasks, with analyses based on comparisons of consecutive stress responses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Analysis of covariance demonstrated significant differences across the study on diastolic blood pressure and cardiac output, as a function of repressive coping. Repressors showed elevated reactions to both stress tasks; however, cardiac output responses to the second task were more muted indicating that repressive coping was associated with successful adaptation to recurrent stress. Nevertheless, repressive copers maintained an exaggerated cardiovascular responses to recurrent stress.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study identifies that repressive coping may be associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease development through elevated cardiovascular reactions to both novel and recurrent stress.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick , Limerick , Ireland.
authors.forename: Siobhán
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Howard
authors.affiliation: b Department of Life Sciences , Brunel University , London , UK.
authors.forename: Lynn B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Myers
authors.affiliation: c School of Psychology , National University of Ireland , Galway , Ireland.
authors.forename: Brian M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Hughes
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D002302:Cardiac Output / Q000502:physiology; D002320:Cardiovascular Physiological Phenomena; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012008:Recurrence; D012094:Repression, Psychology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Repressive coping; cardiovascular adaptation; cardiovascular reactivity; verbal-autonomic response dissociation