Comparison of hemodynamic responses to social and nonsocial stress: Evaluation of an anger interview KENNETH M. PRKACHIN, a DAVID E. MILLS, b CAROLINE ZWAAL, c and JANICE HUSTED c a Psychology Program, University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, British Columbia, Canada b Health Department, Scientific Laboratories Division, State of New Mexico, Albuquerque, USA c Department of Health Studies, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada Abstract Hemodynamic responses to an anger interview and cognitive and physical stressors were compared, and the stability of associated hemodynamic reactions examined. Participants experienced control, handgrip, counting, and mental arith- metic tests and an anger interview on two occasions. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure, heart rate, stroke volume, and cardiac output were measured. Total peripheral resistance was also derived. The anger interview produced larger, more sustained changes in blood pressure in both sessions than the other stressors. These changes were largely a consequence of increased peripheral resistance. Consistent with previous findings, handgrip was associated with a resistance-type reaction whereas arithmetic was associated with a cardiac output-type reaction. There was low-to- modest stability of hemodynamic reactions to the interview. Further research is necessary to optimize its utility in studies of cardiovascular function. Nevertheless, the findings underscore the ability of ecologically relevant stressors to provoke unique configurations of cardiovascular activity. Descriptors: Stress, Emotion, Impedance cardiography, Stability, Cardiac output, Peripheral resistance As research on cardiovascular responses to stress has evolved, there has been increasing interest in stressors whose properties illuminate processes that may contribute to risk of cardiovascular disease. For example, the literature indicating that the emotional trait of hostility is associated with increased mortality ~ Miller et al., 1996! has generated attempts to determine whether hostility is associated with a differential cardiovascular response to stress. Some of this literature has indicated that tasks that are social in nature elicit exaggerated cardiovascular reactions among hostile individuals ~ Hardy & Smith, 1988, Houston, 1994; Smith & All- red, 1989; Suarez & Williams, 1989, 1990; Suls & Wan, 1993!. There is also evidence that interpersonal stressors are differen- tially provocative independent of personal characteristics. Ewart and Kolodnar ~1991! developed a “social competence” interview for assessing cardiovascular reactivity. The interview was associ- ated with a differentially large blood pressure response ~relative to more commonly used laboratory stressors! suggesting that the technique might provide an advantageous way of evaluating the role of reactivity in the development of cardiovascular disease. Other literature has also suggested that social tasks have unique cardiovascular effects ~ Linden, Rutledge, & Con, 1998; Rozanski et al., 1988!. Because the emotion of anger has a history of being associated with cardiovascular disease and is linked with the emotional trait of hostility, an experimental situation that engages the emotion of anger realistically may evoke particularly informative cardiovas- cular reactions. Research has shown differential cardiovascular reactions to conditions, such as harassment or rude treatment, which can be expected or shown to elicit angry affect. For exam- ple, Suarez, Harlan, Peoples, and Williams ~1993! found that when harassment was added to an anagram task, systolic blood pressure increases were enhanced, especially among women scoring high on the Cook-Medley ~1954! Hostility Scale. Bongard, Pfeiffer, Al’ Absi, Hodapp, and Linnenkemper ~1997! exposed participants to mental arithmetic or control tasks. The addition of an anger- inducing provocation resulted in diastolic blood pressure and heart rate increases that exceeded those associated with mental arithme- tic alone. As these studies employed only female participants, the degree to which the findings are generalizable to men is unknown. Although studies that manipulate anger by exposing partici- pants to experimental provocations are valuable, tasks that take advantage of naturally occurring experiences of anger may also be informative and have greater ecological validity. There has been increasing use of anger-recall and interview tasks in recent years. Lamensdorf and Linden ~1992! exposed participants to a series of tasks, including a conversation about a recent upsetting event. The latter task elicited greater diastolic blood pressure responses than did a conversation about the weather, or mental arithmetic. Ironson et al. ~1992! found that exposure to an anger-recall interview elicited a greater reduction in left ventricular ejection fraction than exercise, mental arithmetic, or another speech stressor among patients with coronary artery disease. Anderson and Lawler ~1995! exposed females assessed as Type A or Type B to a 4-min inter- Supported by a grant to Kenneth Prkachin and David Mills from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario. We would like to thank Derek Johnston and Glenda Prkachin for helpful commentary on a previous version. Address reprint requests to: Kenneth M. Prkachin, Psychology Pro- gram, University of Northern British Columbia, 3333 University Way, Prince George, British Columbia, V2N 4Z9, Canada. E-mail: kmprk@ unbc.ca. Psychophysiology, 38 ~2001!, 879–885. Cambridge University Press. Printed in the USA. Copyright © 2001 Society for Psychophysiological Research 879