Parental History of Essential Hypertension, Active Coping, and Cardiovascular Reactivity

ABSTRACT Differences in cardiovascular reactivity to stress between individuals with and without a family history of essential hypertension (EH) may be affected by stimulus characteristics and/or individual differences in behavioral response. Twenty‐four male students with a parental history of EH and 24 without a parental history of EH participated in two laboratory sessions during which two “active’ (mental arithmetic and the Stroop word‐color interference test) stressors and one “non‐active’ (isometric hand‐grip) stressor were presented. Family history subjects exhibited greater systolic blood pressure responses than non‐family history subjects only to the two active stressors in Session 2, despite the fact that, overall, isometric hand‐grip elicited the largest responses. High‐performing Stroop subjects with a parental history of EH displayed greater heart rate responses to the task than high‐performing subjects without a parental history of EH in both sessions. No group differences appeared among poor performers. The degree to which a stressor encourages active coping behavior appears to be one determinant of differences in cardiovascular response between individuals with and without a family history of EH.