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Between-person and within-person approaches to the prediction of ambulatory blood pressure: the role of affective valence and intensity

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Abstract

Identifying momentary influences on ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) will help explain ABP variability; however, most research only examines aggregate ABP at the between-person level. This study used within-person methods to examine whether affective dimensions—valence and arousal—differentially predicted momentary ABP levels. A community sample (n = 39) wore an ABP cuff that took BP measurements every 20 min for 24 h. At each measurement, participants reported levels of valence and arousal on electronic diaries. Multilevel modeling was used to examine the effects of momentary and person-averaged levels of valence and arousal on ABP. Greater momentary negative valence and arousal predicted higher systolic BP compared to more positive or lower arousal assessments; higher averaged levels of arousal predicted higher DBP. The results suggest the independence of the effects of valence and arousal on BP. These findings have important implications for designing interventions to lower ABP.

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Funding

This work was funded in part by ScottCare Cardiovascular Solutions, Cleveland, OH

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychological Sciences, University of California, Merced, CA, 95343, USA

    Matthew J. Zawadzki, Jennifer Mendiola & Eric A. Walle

  2. Department of Biobehavioral Health, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

    William Gerin

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  1. Matthew J. Zawadzki
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  2. Jennifer Mendiola
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  3. Eric A. Walle
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  4. William Gerin
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Correspondence to Matthew J. Zawadzki.

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Matthew J. Zawadzki, Jennifer Mendiola, Eric A. Walle and William Gerin declare that they have no conflict of interest

Human and animal rights and Informed consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

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Zawadzki, M.J., Mendiola, J., Walle, E.A. et al. Between-person and within-person approaches to the prediction of ambulatory blood pressure: the role of affective valence and intensity. J Behav Med 39, 757–766 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-016-9746-6

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