Sex Differences in Cardiovascular Reactivity to Physical Appearance and Performance Challenges Laura R. Stroud, Raymond S. Niaura, and Catherine M. Stoney We examined sex differences in cardiovascular reactivity to a novel body image speech task and to three performance-oriented challenges: serial subtraction, handgrip, and mirror tracing tasks. Forty-nine men and 64 women completed the four tasks while heart rate, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and mean arterial pressure were measured. The speech was perceived as requiring more emotionality and empa- thy for success, whereas the performance tasks were perceived as requiring greater competitiveness. As predicted, women showed greater heart rate reactivity to the body image speech, but men showed greater blood pressure reactivity to the subtrac- tion, grip, and mirror tracing tasks. Results underscore the importance of contextual factors in influencing sex differences in stress responses; women may be more physi- ologically vulnerable to challenges in the domain of physical appearance, whereas men may react to competitive, performance-oriented challenges. Key words: sex differences, stress, cardiovascular reactivity, physical appearance, performance Men’s greater physiological reactivity to acute stress has been posited as one expla- nation for their greater morbidity from coronary heart disease (Anderson, Kochanek, & Murphy, 1997; Matthews, 1989; Stoney, Davis, & Matthews, 1987). In support of this hypothesis, men have shown greater increases in blood pressure, epinephrine, and lipids in response to certain laboratory stressors, as well as to such INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL MEDICINE, 8(3), 240–250 Copyright © 2001, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Laura R. Stroud and Raymond S. Niaura, Brown University Center for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine, Providence, RI, USA; Catherine M. Stoney, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Laura Stroud, Brown University Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine, Coro West, Suite 500, 1 Hoppin Street, Providence, RI 02903. E-mail: laura_stroud@brown.edu