Abstract
This study explored the effects of gender-typing of a task on cardiovascular reactivity among 60 men and 58 women, who were preselected on the basis of their “masculinity” and “femininity” scores on the Personal Attribute Questionnaire (PAQ; Spence & Helmreich, 1978). Both gender-role orientation and gender-typing of (he task (but not sex of participant) accounted for a significant amount of variance in systolic blood pressure (SBP) and heart rate (HR) reactivity. Femininity scores predicted increases in SBP responses to the task in the entire sample. HR responses were determined by a significant interaction of sex of participant, a “feminine” gender-role orientation, and gender-typing of the task. Among men, gender-typing of task interacted with gender-role orientation: men whose personality did not fit the situation (e.g., men scoring high on “femininity” who worked on a male-typed task) exhibited elevated MR reactivity. There were no significant effects for HR reactivity among women. These findings underscore the role of psychosocial factors as determinants of SBP and HR responses, especially among men.
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The research was supported in part by National Heart. Lung, and Blood Institute Grants HL 3426103 anil HL4036802; the Suffolk County, NY. American Heart Association; and Biomedical Research Grant RR 0706721.
This article is based on a paper presented as part of a symposium on the role of gender in mechanisms of cardiovascular reactivity at the 1993 meeting of the Society of Behavioral Medicine. San Francisco.
We thank R. Friend. J. Hutt, and N. R. Mendell for their helpful comments on the article, and John Davis. Linda Helmig. Dennis Michaels. Gabrielle Pisano. and the late Tom Ficarrotto for serving as experimenters.
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Weidner, G., Messina, C.R. Effects of gender-typed tasks and gender roles on cardiovascular reactivity. Int. J. Behav. Med. 2, 66–82 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327558ijbm0201_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327558ijbm0201_6