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Impact of gender and having children in the household on ambulatory blood pressure in work and nonwork settings: A partial replication and new findings

  • Empirical Articles
  • Published:
Annals of Behavioral Medicine

Abstract

Ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) has been shown to differ for men and women across work and nonwork settings. For men, ABP is higher at work than at home on workdays or on nonworkdays. For women, ABP levels in different settings depend on whether they have children in the household. Women without children at home exhibit the “male” pattern of higher ABP at work than at home. Women with children at home show either similar ABP levels in the two locations or higher ABP at home. These different patterns have been assumed to represent different stress levels in the two locations, but this assumption has rarely been tested. Also, few studies have examined ABP levels on a nonworkday in women or the effect of having children in the household for men. The present study monitored ABP in men and women during two workdays and one nonworkday. Comparisons were made between ABP levels in three settings (workday at work, workday at home, nonworkday) using mixed random effects regression models. Psychosocial variables (e.g. mood, stress) that might mediate the different ABP patterns were also assessed. ABP differences were analyzed by gender and whether children were living in the household using mixed random effects regression models. Results indicated that diastolic blood pressure was higher at work versus home for men with children and higher at work and on nonworkdays than at home for women without children. ABP did not differ across settings for women with children or men without children. These results were not mediated by mood or stress levels in the three settings.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology A103, Worcester State College, 486 Chandler Street, 01602, Worcester, MA

    Christine A. Marco Ph.D.

  2. State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, USA

    Christine A. Marco Ph.D., Joseph E. Schwartz, John M. Neale, Delwyn Catley & Arthur A. Stone

  3. University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, USA

    Saul Shiffman

Authors
  1. Christine A. Marco Ph.D.
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  2. Joseph E. Schwartz
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  3. John M. Neale
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  4. Saul Shiffman
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  5. Delwyn Catley
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  6. Arthur A. Stone
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Additional information

Preparation of this manuscript was supported in part by grant #MH49490 from the National Institute of Mental Health.

The authors would like to acknowledge the valuable contributions of members of the research team including Laura Cruise, Melanie DeSiano, Sharon Dresbach, Barbara Gilkes, Amy Gorin, Mary Hickcox, Robin Leake, Jean Paty, Walter Perz, Laura Porter, and Erica Shertzer.

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Marco, C.A., Schwartz, J.E., Neale, J.M. et al. Impact of gender and having children in the household on ambulatory blood pressure in work and nonwork settings: A partial replication and new findings. ann. behav. med. 22, 110–115 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02895773

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