Doctoral Dissertations
Date of Award
8-1998
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Major
Psychology
Major Professor
Debora R. Baldwin
Committee Members
Ronald Hopson, David Bassett, Craig Wrisberg
Abstract
The question of whether aerobic fitness moderates the cardiovascular response to stress has been a difficult question to answer clearly. The goal of the present study was to examine conceptual and sampling issues that may have hindered past research. Specifically, in this study a cross sectional design was used to focus on the interaction of fitness with the cardiovascular stress response in three areas; Gender Differences, Family History of Hypertension, and Stressor Familiarity. One hundred and three men and women attending the University of Tennessee-Knoxville were fitness tested and categorized into fit and less fit groups. Each completed a psychophysiological protocol in which measures of blood pressure and heart rate were collected at rest and during three periods of stress where the participant talked or read to the investigator. The data were analyzed with mixed model repeated measures analyses of variance. It was found that for both men and women, fitness was related to decreased levels of blood pressure and rate- pressure product. Additionally fitness was associated with decreased BP responses during stress in men and women with a family history of hypertension. Fitness was not associated with cardiovascular response differences to familiar or novel stressors in men or women. Overall, the association between fitness and the BP response to stress was stronger among males. However, it is suggested that this stronger association may have been due to larger differences in physical activity between the fit and less fit groups of males than that of females, rather than to a genetic predetermination. The present study significantly contributes to the overall literature in this area by presenting evidence of a potential fitness interaction in both male and female groups, and in groups with a family history of hypertension. More importantly, new questions are raised for future research regarding whether the effects seen may actually have been the result of differences in physical activity levels, rather than fitness differences.
Recommended Citation
Craig, Francis W., "The roles of fitness, family history of hypertension, and stressor novelty/familiarity in moderating the cardiovascular stress response in college men and women. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 1998.
https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/9226