For cardiovascular disease primary prevention programs to be both effective and cost efficient, it is necessary that bio-behavioral research be directed at identifying particular groups at risk and the factors that contributes to the onset of hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases. This proposal for secondary analysis will identify psychological and traditional risk factors associated with elevated systolic and diastolic blood pressure/hypertension for black and white adolescents of each gender. This will be accomplished through the use of a data set consisting of 613 white (327 males and 286 females) and 447 black (247 males and 173 females) adolescents who were between 15 and 17 years of age when examined in Tampa, Florida during the Spring of 1981. The goal of cardiovascular disease primary prevention program is to reduce the incidence of heart disease in groups known to be at risk of developing cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension. Before this task can be efficiently and effectively accomplished in black and other groups at risk, however, we need to obtain information about: (1) how to determine which particular subgroups are at risk, (2) what specific factors contribute to the onset and early development of hypertension and other forms of heart disease, and (3) what specific variables of these risk groups need to be modified to reduce the development of hypertension/heart disease. At present, there is notably little information about the role of specific psychological risk factors in the etiology of hypertension among blacks or on possible differences in these mechanisms among black and whites. Previous analyses of the association of blood pressure to personality and traditional risk factors have yielded some interesting results which need to be subjected to more in-depth and rigorous analyses. Through secondary hypertension and key personality and traditional risk factors within a sample of black and white adolescents. The knowledge gained from these analyses can be used as a basis for establishing cardiovascular disease primary prevention activities for adolescents.
| Johnson, E H; Gilbert, D (1991) Familial and psychological correlates of smoking in black and white adolescents. Ethn Dis 1:320-34 |
| Johnson, E H (1990) Interrelationships between psychological factors, overweight, and blood pressure in adolescents. J Adolesc Health Care 11:310-8 |
| Johnson, E H (1989) Cardiovascular reactivity, emotional factors, and home blood pressures in black males with and without a parental history of hypertension. Psychosom Med 51:390-403 |
| Johnson, E H (1989) The role of the experience and expression of anger and anxiety in elevated blood pressure among black and white adolescents. J Natl Med Assoc 81:573-84 |
| Johnson, E H; Spielberger, C D; Worden, T J et al. (1987) Emotional and familial determinants of elevated blood pressure in black and white adolescent males. J Psychosom Res 31:287-300 |
| Johnson, E H; Schork, N J; Spielberger, C D (1987) Emotional and familial determinants of elevated blood pressure in black and white adolescent females. J Psychosom Res 31:731-41 |
