The objective of this proposal is to contribute to our understanding of gender differences in primary coronary risk. Epidemiological research methods will be employed to examine gender differences in behavioral and psychosocial variables related to primary coronary risk factors (e.g., occupational characteristics, Type A behavior, hostility) in already existing data sets (Family Heart Study; NHANES II). The subjects for this project will consist of subsamples of adults between 18 and 50 years of age, the age group that shows the largest gender differential in primary coronary risk factors. It is hypothesized that controlling for behavioral and psychosocial variables that reveal gender differences will reduce the gender differential in primary coronary risk factors. Furthermore, it is expected that the lack of a person-environment fit will be associated with increased coronary risk in both women and men. The role of parental history of heart disease, Type A behavior and smoking in elevated primary coronary risk factors among oral contraceptive users will also be investigated with epidemiological methods (i.e., multivariate statistics) Findings that emerge from the above investigations will be translated into testable hypotheses that will be subjected to controlled laboratory experimentation employing social psychological and psychophysiological research methods. Specifically, occupational characteristics such as degree of demand and personal control will be experimentally manipulated while blood pressure and heart rate reactivity will be assessed. In order to determine the pathogenic (i.e., sympathetic) component of heart rate reactivity, impedance cardiography will be employed. The subjects for these experiments will be college students. In addition, Type A behavior, hostility, parental history of heart disease, and oral contraceptive use (in women) will be examined as moderator variables in the stress-cardiovascular reactivity relationship. Repeated measure designs (for the oral contraceptive study only) and analyses of variance will be employed. The results from the above studies will further our understanding of gender differences in coronary risk. Identification of psychosocial and behavioral variables contributing to the gender differential in primary coronary risk will shed new light on the role of non biological and thus modifiable risk factors of premature death due to coronary heart disease.
