The proposed research will assess ethnicity and psychosocial factors hypothesized to be related to Black/White differences in health outcomes, including socioeconomic status, perception of racism, social support, hostility, anger, and family history of cardiovascular disease, examine patterns of cardiovascular reactivity among Whites and two Black ethnic groups -- African Americans and Caribbean born Blacks -- to two stressful laboratory tasks, and identify which psychosocial factors may be related to differences in cardiovascular reactivity or recovery. According to the """"""""cardiovascular reactivity hypothesis,"""""""" exaggerated cardiovascular responding to stress is a marker or mediator in the development of coronary heart disease and essential hypertension. Cardiovascular reactivity may therefore be an important marker or mediator of risk for cardiovascular disease in Blacks. Psychophysiological study of Blacks and Whites supports the idea that Blacks and Whites differ in cardiovascular reactivity to psychological stress. Little attention has been paid, however, to ethnic group differences in reactivity among Blacks. The results of the proposed research should contribute to our understanding of how ethnicity affects health and disease processes, and may help to identify psychosocial factors that may be health protecting or adaptive.
| Arthur, Carlotta M; Katkin, Edward S; Mezzacappa, Elizabeth S (2004) Cardiovascular reactivity to mental arithmetic and cold pressorin African Americans, Caribbean Americans, and white Americans. Ann Behav Med 27:31-7 |
