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The ability of active versus passive coping tasks to predict future blood pressure levels in normotensive men and women

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Abstract

Casual blood pressure (BP) after a 2-year follow-up interval was determined in 40 normotensive men and women (20 Blacks and 20 Whites), who had been initially tested for cardiovascular responses to a variety of active and passive coping tasks, including active speech, passive speech, reaction time, and forehead cold pressor tasks. Stepwise multiple regression analyses were used to identify the best model for predicting follow-up BP. Average systolic blood pressure (SBP) level during cold pressor stress was the single most powerful predictor of casual SBP over 2 years, even after controlling for initial resting SBP. Other predictors of follow-up SBP were initial SBP, parental history of hypertension, and heart rate and SBP during passive speech (final model R 2 = .78). For follow-up diastolic blood pressure (DBP), the only significant predictors were initial DBP and male gender. These results contribute to a growing body of literature that suggests that cardiovascular measures observed during stressors have predictive validity above and beyond that of traditional predictor variables.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Susan S. Girdler & Kathleen C. Light

  2. Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina, Chapef Hill, NC, USA

    Kimberly A. Brownley

  3. Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Alan L. Hinderliter

  4. Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA, USA

    J. Rick Turner

  5. Department of Psychiatry, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA

    Andrew Sherwood

  6. CB#7175, Medical Research Building A, Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, 27599-1175, Chapel Hill, NC

    Susan S. Girdler

Authors
  1. Susan S. Girdler
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  2. Alan L. Hinderliter
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  3. Kimberly A. Brownley
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  4. J. Rick Turner
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  5. Andrew Sherwood
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  6. Kathleen C. Light
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Susan S. Girdler.

Additional information

This research was supported by National Institutes of Health Grants HL31533. HL50778. NH09885, andMH33127-15.

We thank Dot Faulkner for manuscript preparation, Stan Hutcheson for technical assistance, and Marty Kraut for data management.

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Girdler, S.S., Hinderliter, A.L., Brownley, K.A. et al. The ability of active versus passive coping tasks to predict future blood pressure levels in normotensive men and women. Int. J. Behav. Med. 3, 233–250 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327558ijbm0303_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327558ijbm0303_4

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