Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

5-1991

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Psychology

Major Professor

Kathleen A. Lawler

Committee Members

John Lounsbury, Ronald Hopson, Barbara Reid, James Lawler

Abstract

Current research has failed to consider the effects of racism as a stress factor that may contribute to the higher incidence of essential hypertension among Blacks. Chronic exposure to racism may result in feelings of powerlessness, hostility and anger suppression. These forms of emotional expression have been found to be related to elevated blood pressure and increased responsivity. The responsivity of sixty eight Black and White women was compared for racist and other stressors. Blacks demonstrated a greater pressor responsivity to a film stimulus depicting racism, than to neutral and anger provoking film stimuli. This pressor response was accompanied by a concomitant alpha-adrenergic response, which failed to show any indication of cardiac responding (cardiac output did not change from baseline levels). Blood pressure responses among the Blacks are thought to resemble those of essential hypertensives in that they represent a lack of reciprocation between cardiac and vascular responses. This scene may have produced a greater response than the equally emotional anger scene, because depicted racism may be a more emotionally salient stressor than mere depictions of anger among Blacks. Whites responded to the racist film scene with a mixture of beta and alpha-adrenergic responsivity to the racist film scene. Responses to the racist scene and the anger scene were similar for Whites, but not for Blacks. Whites demonstrated increased total peripheral resistance and decreased cardiac output during the racist scene from baseline levels. This type of responding represents a normal reciprocal relationship between total peripheral resistance and cardiac output during passive coping tasks. The video game challenge was thought to represent a traditional active coping stressor for both Whites and Blacks. Blacks responded to this stressor with a mixed beta/alpha-adrenergic type response. Total peripheral resistance, heart rate, systolic, diastolic and mean arterial blood pressure increased maximally, while and cardiac output also increased minimally. There was little decoupling between beta and alpha-adrenergic responses during this stressor among Blacks. Among Whites, total peripheral resistance increased, while cardiac output failed to increase from baseline. Heart rate increased and systolic, diastolic and mean arterial pressure increased. White subjects showed a response to the video challenge that was similar to those seen during passive coping, while Blacks showed a more response pattern that was more similar to active coping. This was attributed to the amount of control that the subjects appeared to demonstrate during the task. Whites appeared to feel frustration and expressed concern over an ability to compete which is a frequent response to a situation in which subjects feel lack of control. The interview was included in the study to: 1) assess cognitive reactions to discrimination among White and Black women, 2) examine the relationship of interpersonal stressors to blood pressure and the other hemodynamic variables. Blacks were more likely to attribute discrimination to racism than were Whites. Whites were more likely to attribute discrimination to sexism. There was a small group of Blacks that experienced both racism and sexism, yet there were no White subjects that experienced racism. Blood pressure was related to only one affective trait. Among White females, hostility felt toward males as a result of gender discrimination was positively correlated to diastolic and mean arterial pressures taken during the interview. This was not found among Blacks. Systolic, diastolic and mean arterial pressure during the interview increased from baseline for both Blacks and Whites. Blacks responded to the interview with vascular dominance which was decoupled from cardiac influence. They displayed large increases in total peripheral resistance with little cardiac output or heart rate increase. Whites had a small nonsignificant increase in total peripheral resistance with a concomitant increase in cardiac output and heart rate. Whites appear to have responded to the interview with a reciprocation between alpha and beta-adrenergic systems. Personality measures were found to be related to blood pressure. For Blacks, increased failure to discuss anger was associated with higher blood pressure during the racist scene. Anger suppression was related to both increased resting diastolic and systolic pressure. Anger styles that involved outwardly directed anger were associated with blood pressure. among Whites. Increased outwardly directed anger among Whites was strongly related to higher blood pressure levels. Thus, affective coping was different for Blacks and Whites. Spielberger, Johnson, Russell, Crane, Jacobs, and Worden, (1985) believe that the relationship of anger expression to blood pressure is based on a U-shaped curve with extreme anger out and extreme anger suppression related to higher levels of pressure. Alpha-adrenergic responses to racism and suppressed anger may play a role in the pathogenesis of hypertension among Blacks, while Beta-adrenergic responsivity, hostility and outwardly directed anger may play a role in the pathogenesis of hypertension among Whites.

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