Patterns of cardiovascular responses to stress as a function of race and parental hypertension in men

This study investigated cardiovascular responses to two stressors known to elicit either beta-adrenergic (mental arithmetic) or alpha-adrenergic (forehead cold pressor) reactivity in Black and White men. Participants in each group were selected for presence or absence of parental hypertension. Based on previous research, Blacks were expected to show smaller cardiovascular responses to the beta-adrenergic mental arithmetic task and greater responses to the alpha-adrenergic cold pressor relative to the Whites. Systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), heart rate, forearm blood flow, and forearm vascular resistance were assessed during a resting baseline, a prestress period, and during and after each experimental procedure. Unlike previous findings, no significant racial differences in cardiovascular responses were found during either task. However, Black participants had significantly higher SBP and DBP levels throughout the cold pressor periods. Parental history did not significantly influence cardiovascular responses in either group. The results are discussed in relation to previous research on racial differences in stress reactivity and their implications for future research.     

Vigilance, active coping, and cardiovascular reactivity during social interaction in young men.

This study of 72 undergraduate men examined the effects of two determinants of cardiovascular response-active coping and vigilance-on blood pressure and heart rate responses to social stressors. Observation of a future debate partner (i.e., vigilance) evoked larger increases in blood pressure than did observation of a less relevant person, apparently through the combination of increases in cardiac output and vascular resistance. Preparation and enactment of efforts to exert social influence (i.e., active coping) evoked heightened blood pressure and heart rate responses through increased cardiac contractility and output. Thus, both vigilance and active coping in social contexts increased cardiovascular reactivity, but apparently through different psychophysiological processes.     

Assessment of violence potential using measures of anger, hostility, and social desirability

The assessment of violence potential was studied using the following scales: The Novaco Anger Inventory, the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory, the MMPI Hostility Control Scale (Hc), the MMPI Overt Hostility Scale (Ho), and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale. The five measures were evaluated for their ability to discriminate between violent and nonviolent criminals, and between criminal and normal population samples. Normative data was collected for 204 adult male felons. A correlation matrix presents interrelationships among the five scales. A comparison of mean scale scores between violent and nonviolent groups resulted in a significant discrimination in the expected direction for all but the Hc scale. A discriminant analysis procedure applied to individual items from the Novaco Anger Inventory resulted in the selection of 25 variables which identified violence prone individuals with 90% accuracy. Clinical implications are noted and recommendations for future research are made.     

Type A behavior pattern, parental history of hypertension, and cardiovascular reactivity in college males

Two risk factors for cardiovascular disorders, parental history of hypertension and the Type A behavior pattern, were investigated concurrently with respect to cardiovascular reactivity to challenging situations. Sixty-four college males were given both the Structured Interview (SI) and Jenkins Activity Survey (JAS) for the Type A behavior pattern and a family health questionnaire to determine parental history of hypertension. The students were monitored for blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), and pulse transit time (PTT) response to four tasks: cold pressor, isometric handgrip exercise, a reading comprehension task, and backwards digit span. Type As based on SI classification had significantly higher HR levels across all tasks than did Type Bs, as well as higher diastolic BP levels in the cold pressor task. No main effects for Type A-B using JAS classification were found. Positive parental history students had higher HR and shorter PTT levels across all the tasks. Type A and parental history did interact in a limited way on some tasks, but the interactions were also dependent on the Type A classification used.     

Hypertension risk and caffeine's effect on cardiovascular activity during mental stress in young men

Examined the cardiovascular effects of caffeine plus behavioral stress in men low versus high in risk of essential hypertension. Caffeine (3.3 mg/kg, equivalent to 2 to 3 cups of coffee) or placebo was given on alternate days to 19 low-risk men (negative for parental hypertension and low-normal resting blood pressure, BP) and 20 high-risk men (positive history, high-normal BP). Forty minutes later, each worked for 15 min on a demanding psychomotor task during which BP, cardiac output, and vascular resistance were determined. During rest, caffeine raised vascular resistance in both groups. During the task, it supra-additively increased the systolic BP response by enhancing the rise in cardiac output, producing equivalent BP rises in both groups. Due to the higher resting pressures of the high-risk men, caffeine plus the task resulted in 50% of these having transient BP of 140/90 mg Hg or greater. Caffeine in combination with mental stress may produce undesirable BP in those at risk for hypertension.     

Self-esteem and social desirability in relation to college students' retrospective perceptions of parental fairness and disciplinary practices

This study examined the relationships that fathers' and mothers' interactive of disciplinary behaviors have with college students' Coopersmith Self-esteem Inventory scores, Social Desirability scale scores, and their retrospective perceptions of their parents' fairness (50 sons, 84 daughters). Sons with higher scores in self-esteem reported that their mothers were fairer, had more interest in their activities, and were less likely to use verbal put-downs (abuse). Daughters with high self-esteem reported both of their parents were more interested in their activities, used praise more often, and refrained from verbal abuse. Also, these daughters reported that their mothers were more fair and encouraged their independence more. Daughters who reported their fathers as being more strict had lower self-esteem scores. There was no evidence that spanking, grounding, scolding, or monetary rewards had any effect on children's self-esteem scores, whether these methods were used by mothers or by fathers. Both sons and daughters who perceived their parents as being more fair also saw them as being more interested, having used praise more often, and having been less likely to have used verbal abuse. Daughters were less likely to view either fathers or mothers as being more fair if they had used spanking, grounding, or scolding more, and had been over-all stricter. Sons who had less strict fathers or who had received monetary rewards from them tended to regard them as being more fair. Higher social desirability scores correlated with higher self-esteem of women. Also, women with these higher social desirability scores tended to report that both their fathers and mothers used scolding and grounding less often.     

Causal priority of social desirability over self-concept: a cross-lagged correlation analysis.

The study examined the causal relationship between social desirability (SD) and self-concept (SC). Two self-report instruments--Crandall's Children's Social Desirability Scale and the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale--were administered before and after a 9-month therapeutic treatment designed to enhance self-concept. Subjects were 57 upper elementary pupils in a laboratory research school. Three hypotheses were proposed: (a) There is a positive correlation between SD and SC; (b) SD is more stable across time than SC; and (c) SD is causally prior to SC. Cross-lagged panel correlation analysis supported all three hypotheses. Discussion centers on a causal explanation of the distorting effect of SD upon SC scores.     

Methods of coping with social desirability bias: A review

Social desirability is one of the most common sources of bias affecting the validity of experimental and survey research findings. From a self-presentational perspective, social desirability can be regarded as the resultant of two separate factors: self-deception and other-deception. Two main modes of coping with social desirability bias are distinguished. The first mode comprises two methods aimed at the detection and measurement of social desirability bias: the use of social desirability scales, and the rating of item desirability. A second category comprises seven methods to prevent or reduce social desirability bias, including the use of forced-choice items, the randomized response technique, the bogus pipeline, self-administration of the questionnaire, the selection of interviewers, and the use of proxy subjects. Not one method was found to excel completely and under all conditions in coping with both other-deceptive and self-deceptive social desirability bias. A combination of prevention and detection methods offers the best choice available.     

Postnatal mental health and parenting: The importance of parental anger

Parents' postnatal mental health and subjective perceptions of their baby are likely to influence the quality of their relationship with their baby. To date, this has largely been examined in mothers; therefore, this study aimed to also explore this in both parents. Semistructured clinical interviews [The Birmingham Interview for Maternal Mental Health (BIMMH); Brockingon, Chandra et al., 2006] were carried out with 85 first‐time parents. The BMMHI identifies disorders of anxiety, depression, PTSD, and parental anger. Sections of the BMMHI also elicit qualitative accounts of parenthood. These were transcribed and analyzed using thematic analysis. Differences in the frequency of themes were examined for parents with or without mental health disorders or parental anger. Themes are reported for (a) baby characteristics, needs, and development; (b) parents' emotions, responses, coping strategies, and general parenthood; and (c) parent and baby relationship. Results indicated that both the presence of parental mental health problems and, more notably, parental anger were associated with more negative accounts of the self, the baby, and parenthood. This study provides insight into first‐time parents' perceptions of early parenthood. Results especially highlight the need to consider parental experiences of anger in more detail for assessment and interventions in the early postpartum period.     

Predicting parental social influences: The role of physical activity variability

Objectives

This study examined how variations in the activity of adolescents might relate to the social influences used by parents. Specifically, mean differences in activity across adolescents (individual differences) as well as variation in activity within adolescents (intra-individual variation) were used to predict the use of family social influence.

Design

A prospective design was used.

Methods

High school students (N = 329) completed measures of activity (six times) and social influences received from family (positive, negative, collaborative) (five times) over a one-year period. A multilevel analysis was used to predict each of the three types of social influence. The predictors included activity in two forms: The individual’s mean level of activity (i.e., individual differences) and activity at the previous time point as a deviation from the individual’s mean activity level (i.e., intra-individual variation).

Results

Controlling for age, gender and school, results revealed that both individual differences in mean activity level (b = 0.04, p < .001) and intra-individual variation in activity (b = −0.02, p = .055) predicted use of collaborative influence. For positive influence, only individual differences in mean activity level was a predictor (b = 0.02, p < .001). Neither form of activity predicted parental use of negative influence.

Conclusions

Results revealed support for the positive relationship between both positive and collaborative types of influence and individual differences in activity that is typically reported in the literature. However, a negative relationship between intra-individual variation in activity and collaborative social influences also was found. This negative relationship, where lower activity than normal by the adolescent was related to a greater use of collaborative influence by the parent, may be indicative of a regulatory form of social influence.     

Control of social desirability in personality inventories: Principal-factor deletion

Rational and statistical techniques for controlling social desirability (SD) in scales derived from self-report inventories are reviewed. The principal-factor deletion technique is explained in detail. It is applied during factor analysis when derived content scales are expected to be tainted with SD. If one principal factor is found to represent social desirability, the implicated factor is dropped and the communalities adjusted before the remaining factors are rotated to a desired simple structure criterion. Subscales derived from resulting factors are free of SD bias. Principal-factor deletion is compared with other approaches including rational techniques, covariate procedures, and target rotation.     

Clogs in the bogus pipeline: Demand characteristics and social desirability

Jones and Sigall (1971) have advocated the use of a pseudophysiological monitoring device (the bogus pipeline) as a procedure to measure the “true” feelings of experimental subjects. A comparison of the bogus pipeline and a paper-and-pencil scale as measures of attraction indicated that the monitoring device is affected by experimenter demands among high social desirability (SD) subjects (p < .03) while the simple rating scale is not. Attraction to a stranger was determined solely by attitude similarity for high SD subjects using the paper-and-pencil measure and for low SD subjects in both measurement conditions. Use of the bogus pipeline in the typical attraction experiment thus would seem to be contraindicated. These results were discussed with respect to Ostrom's (1973) criteria of relative sensitivity and functional comparability of measurement techniques.     

Social phobia and avoidant personality disorder as related to parental history of social anxiety: a general population study

Using a validated and DSM-IV compatible questionnaire, the present study related family history of excessive social anxiety to social phobia and avoidant personality disorder (APD) in epidemiologically identified probands in the general population. Probands met diagnostic criteria for social phobia with or without APD and APD with or without social phobia. A two- to three-fold increased relative risk of social anxiety was observed for all diagnostic groups. Increasing severity in probands by varying diagnostic criteria did not affect the relative risk. Because familial aggregation of social anxiety was not modulated by Axis I or II diagnosis or diagnostic cut-off levels, data imply that social phobia and APD may represent a dimension of social anxiety rather than separate disorders. Thus, having an affected family member is associated with a two- to three-fold risk increase for both social phobia and APD.