We used the results from two large scale cardiovascular investigations as a platform
for examining ways in which psychological response style measures could improve the
prediction of cardiovascular health outcomes. Of particular focus was the long-standing
conceptual controversy over whether response styles are better treated as confounds to the
self-report of stress-related personality characteristics or as separate personality traits.
Study 1 consisted of a 3-year prospective study of ambulatory blood pressure levels in a
healthy adult sample of males and females (N=T25). Study 2 comprised a pharmacological
treatment study among ischemic heart disease patients (N=95). Questionnaire batteries
completed in each study included self-report measures of depression, anger expression,
daily stress, and hostility, along with self-deception and impression management response
style scales. In each study, we investigated direct relationships between the response style
measures and cardiovascular outcomes, moderator relationships between response style x
psychological risk factor interactions and cardiovascular endpoints, and finally between the
psychological risk factors and cardiovascular measures after statistically extracting response
style variance from the p sychological risk factor scores.
Results most strongly supported the main effects model. Higher self-deception
scores predicted elevated 3-year diastolic and systolic blood pressure means in study 1, and
poorer treatment outcomes in study 2. In both investigations these relationships proved
stable after controlling for baseline cardiovascular standing. Importantly, efforts to
statistically control for response style effects within the psychological risk factors did not
improve predictive power with these measures. The above findings favor efforts to treat
response styles as potentially independent psychological contributors to cardiovascular
health outcomes, and support ongoing attempts to identify biobehavioral mechanisms
through which personality dispositions may impact the appearance or progression of
disease.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/9666 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Rutledge, Thomas |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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