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Dominance, gender, and cardiovascular reactivity during social interaction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 1999

TAMARA L. NEWTON
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Boston University, Boston, USA Women's Health Sciences Division, National Center for PTSD, VA Medical Center, Boston, USA
CYNTHIA M. BANE
Affiliation:
Cancer Prevention Research Center, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, USA
ADRIANA FLORES
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Miami University, Oxford, OH, USA
JEFFREY GREENFIELD
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Miami University, Oxford, OH, USA
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Abstract

Associations between trait dominance and cardiovascular reactivity were examined in previously unacquainted healthy men and women. Subjects participated in three mixed-gender dyadic interactions with the same partner while their cardiovascular responses were assessed. Among men, but not women, trait dominance was positively and significantly associated with systolic blood pressure reactivity. For men and women, diastolic blood pressure reactivity was positively and significantly associated with trait dominance while participants prepared to interact and with partner's trait dominance while they interacted. All effects held after controlling for trait hostility. Dominance merits attention as a correlate of cardiovascular reactivity, a finding that parallels emerging patterns in the cardiovascular disease literature. Gender and gender-related social factors as potential moderators of this relationship are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
1999 Society for Psychophysiological Research

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