ANGER AND AMBULATORY BLOOD PRESSURE

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Anger, hostility, and anger coping styles have been identified as possible risk factors for both hypertension and coronary heart disease. Laboratory studies have also found a link between cardiovascular hyper-reactivity and measures of anger and anger coping style. Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring has been used to identify cardiovascular responses to real-life situations. This project provides an opportunity to assess the relationship between the coping styles NYC Traffic Enforcement Agents use to manage real-life interpersonal conflicts and ambulatory blood pressure. Traffic agents are regularly confronted by members of the public who are angry about receiving traffic summonses. Data from the New York City Department of Transportation and from our preliminary study indicate these agents are experiencing frequent interpersonal conflict and are at risk for verbal and physical abuse from the public. Confrontations between the agents and the public provide an opportunity to 1) examine the role of trait anger/hostility in predicting the agents' affective, cognitive and behavioral coping strategies to the confrontation, and then 2) examine the relationship between these coping strategies and blood pressure and heart rate response. The use of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring with these agents will allow investigation of the psychophysiological correlates of confrontations as they occur. In addition, this project will provide data on the relationships among hostility, coping style, and ambulatory blood pressure responses during a workday. This study also offers an opportunity to examine the moderating effects of sex on the relationship between the psychological variables and blood pressure response. The data will be collected from a group comprised largely of Black Americans, who are relatively understudied but at high risk for the development of cardiovascular disease.