Abstract
Our aim was to investigate the relationships between defensiveness and repression, on the one hand, and self-reported stressor exposure and resting blood pressure, on the other hand. In addition, different operationalizations of defensiveness and repression were compared. Participants were 310 male and 90 female employees representing a wide range of occupations. Before a medical examination, all subjects completed questionnaires measuring defensiveness, anxiety, repression, dailyhassles, and life events. After controlling for potentially confounding variables, multiple regression analyses revealed an inverse association between defensiveness and self-reported number of daily hassles and a positive link between defensiveness and resting systolic blood pressure. In general, the interaction between defensiveness and anxiety (representing repression) did not add to the predictive power of defensiveness and anxiety alone. The results support the notion that defensive individuals tend to underreport problems, while exhibiting elevated resting blood pressures.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Antoni, M. H., and Goodkin, K. (1989). Host moderator variables in the promotion of cervical neoplasia. II. Dimensions of life stress. J. Psychosom. Res. 33: 457–467.
Baron, R. M., and Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. J. Personal. Soc. Psychol. 51: 1173–1182.
Baum, A. (1990). Stress, intrusive imagery, and chronic distress. Health Psychol. 9: 653–675.
Bissonnette, V., Ickes, W., Bernstein, I., and Knowles, E. (1990). Personality moderating variables: A warning about statistical artifact and a comparison of analytic techniques. J. Personal. 58: 567–587.
Cobb, S., and Rose , R. (1973). Hypertension, pepticulcers, and diabetes in air traffic controllers. JAMA 224: 489–492.
Cottington, E. M., Brock, B. M., House, J. S., and Hawthorne, V. M. (1985). Psychosocial factors and blood pressure in the Michigan statewide blood pressure survey. Am. J. Epidemiol. 121: 515–529.
Crowne, D. P., and Marlowe, D. (1964). The Approval Motive, John Wiley, New York.
Cutler, S. E., Larsen, R. J., and Bunce , S. C. (1996). Repressive coping style and the experience and recall of emotion: A naturalistic study of daily affect. J. Personal. 64: 379–405.
D'Atri, D. A., Fitzgerald, E. F., Kasl, S. V., and Ostfeld, A. M. (1981). Crowding in prison: The relationship between changes in housing mode and blood pressure. Psychosom. Med.43: 95–105.
Davies, M. (1970). Blood pressure and personality. J. Psychosom. Res. 14: 89–104.
Harburg, E., Schull, W. J., Erfurt, J. C., and Schork, M. A. (1970). A family set method for estimating heredity and stress-I. J. Chron. Dis. 23: 69–81.
Henry, J. P. (1988). Stress, salt and hypertension. Special Issue: Stress and coping in relation to health and disease. Soc. Sci. Med. 26: 293–302.
Hermans, H. (1971). Motivatie en Prestatie, Swets and Zeitlinger, Amsterdam.
Holtgraves, T., and Hall, R. (1995). Repressors: What do they repress and how do they repress it? J. Res. Personal. 29: 306–317.
Irvine , M. J., Garner, D. M., Olmstead, M. P., and Logan, A. G. (1989). Personality differences between hypertensive and normotensive individuals: Influence of knowledge of hypertension status. Psychosom. Med. 51: 537–549.
Jamner, L. D., and Schwartz, G. E. (1986). Integration of self report and physiological indices of affect: Interactions with repressive coping strategies [abstract]. Psychophysiology 23: 444.
Jorgensen, R. S., Johnson, B. T., Kolodziej, M. E., and Schreer, G. E. (1996). Elevated blood pressure and personality: A meta-analytic review. Psychol. Bull. 120: 293–320.
Kidson, M. A. (1973). Personality and hypertension. J. Psychosom. Res. 17: 35–41.
King, A. C., Taylor, C. B., Albright, C. A., and Haskell, W. L. (1990). The relationship between repressive and defensive coping styles and blood pressure responses in healthy, middle-aged men and women. J. Psychosom. Res. 34: 461–471.
Kroner, D. G., and Weekes, J. R. (1996). Balanced inventory of desirable responding: Factor structure, reliability, and validity with an offender sample. Person. Indiv. Diff. 21: 323–333.
Lal, N., Ahuja, R. C., and Madhukar (1982). Life events in hypertensive patients. J. Psychosom. Res. 26: 441–445.
Lazarus, R. S. (1990). Theory-based stress measurement. Psychol. Inquiry 1: 3–13.
Lew, E. A. (1990). Hypertension and longevity. In Laragh, J. H., and Brenner, B. M. (eds.), Hypertension: Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, and Management, Raven Press, New York, pp. 175–190.
Linden, W., and Feuerstein, M. (1983). Essential hypertension and social coping behavior: Experimental findings. J. Hum. Stress 9: 22–31.
Monk, M. (1980). Psychological status and hypertension. Am. J. Epidemiol. 112: 200–208.
Myers, H. F., and Miles, R. E. (1981). Life events stress, subjective appraisal and somatization in hypertension: A pilot study. J. Hum. Stress 7: 17–27.
Nyklícek, I., Vingerhoets, A. J. J. M., and Van Heck, G. L. (1996). Hypertension and objective and self-reported stressor exposure: A review. J. Psychosom. Res. 40: 585–601.
Nyklícek, I., Vingerhoets, A. J. J. M., Van Heck, G. L., Kamphuis, P. L., Van Poppel, J. W. M. J., and Van Limpt, M. C. A. M. (1997). Blood pressure, self-reported symptoms, and job-related problems in schoolteachers. J. Psychosom. Res. 42: 287–296.
Osti, R. M., Trombini, G., and Magnani, B. (1980). Stress and distress in essential hypertension. Psychother. Psychosom. 33: 193–197.
Paulhus, D. L. (1984). Two-component models of socially desirable responding. J. Person. Soc. Psychol. 46: 598–609.
Paulhus, D. L. (1990). Measurement and control of response bias. In Robinson, J. P., Shaver, P. R., and Wrightsman, L. S. (eds.), Measures of Personality and Social-Psychological Attitudes, Academic Press, San Diego, pp. 17–59.
Paulhus, D. L., and Reid, D. B. (1991). Enhancement and denial in socially desirable responding. J. Person. Soc. Psychol. 60: 307–317.
Ritz, T., and Dahme , B. (1996). Repression, self-concealment, and rationality/emotional defensiveness: The correspondence between three questionnaire measures of defensive coping. Person. Indiv. Diff. 20: 813.
Rofé, Y., and Goldberg, J. (1983). Prolonged exposure to a war environment and its effects on the blood pressure of pregnant women. Br. J. Med. Psychol. 56: 305–311.
Sackheim, H. A., and Gur, R. C. (1978). Self-deception, self-confrontation, and consciousness. In Schwartz, G. E., and Shapiro, D. (eds.) , Consciousness and Self-Regulation: Advances in Research , Plenum Press, New York, pp. 139–197.
Santonastaso, P., Canton, G., Ambrosio, G. B., and Zamboni, S. (1984). Hypertension and neuroticism. Psychother. Psychosom. 41: 7–11.
Sarason, I. G., Johnson, J. H., and Siegel, J. M. (1978). Assessing the impact of life changes: Development of the Life Experience Survey. J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 46: 932–946.
Shapiro, D., Goldstein, I. B., and Jamner , L. D. (1995). Effects of anger /hostility, defensiveness, gender, and family history of hypertension on cardiovascular reactivity. Psychophysiology 32: 425–435.
Svensson, J., and Theorell, T. (1983). Life events and elevated blood pressure in young men. J. Psychosom. Res. 27: 445–456.
Theorell, T., Svensson, J., Knox, S., Waller, D., and Alvarez, M. (1986). Young men with high blood pressure report few recent life events. J. Psychosom. Res. 30: 243–249.
Tibblin, G., and Lindström, B. (1972). Complaints in subjects with angina pectoris and hypertension. In Zanchetti, A. (ed.) , Neural an d Psychological Mechanisms in Cardiovascular Disease, Casa Editrice ‘Il Ponte’, Milano, pp. 135–139.
Vingerhoets, A. J. J. M., and Van Tilburg, M. A. L. (1994). Alledaagse Problemen Lijst (APL), Swets, Lisse.
Warrenburg, S., Levine, J., Schwartz, G. E., Fontana, A. F., Kerns, R. D., Delaney, R., and Mattson, R. (1989). Defensive coping and blood pressure reactivity in medical patients. J. Behav. Med. 12: 407–424.
Weinberger, D. A. (1989). Social-emotional adjustment in older children and adults I: Psychometric properties of the Weinberger Adjustment Inventory, Unpublished manuscript.
Weinberger, D. A., Schwartz, G. E., and Davidson, R. J. (1979). Low-anxious, high-anxious, and repressive coping styles: Psychome tric patterns and behavioral and physiological responses to stress. J. Abnorm. Psychol. 88: 369–380.
Winkleby, M. A., Ragland, D. R., and Syme , L. (1988). Self-reported stressors and hypertension: Evidence of an inverse association. Am. J. Epidemiol. 127: 124–134.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nyklíček, I., Vingerhoets, A.J.J.M., Van Heck, G.L. et al. Defensive Coping in Relation to Casual Blood Pressure and Self-Reported Daily Hassles and Life Events. J Behav Med 21, 145–161 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018775807593
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018775807593