Evaluating personality as a moderator of the association between life events stress and cardiovascular reactivity to acute stress

Stephen Gallagher; Adam O'Riordan; Grace McMahon; Ann Marie Creaven

doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2018.02.009

Evaluating personality as a moderator of the association between life events stress and cardiovascular reactivity to acute stress

Stephen Gallagher, Adam O'Riordan, Grace McMahon, Ann Marie Creaven

Department of Psychology

University of Limerick

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The present study investigated the possible interaction between life events stress and personality in predicting cardiovascular stress responses. Participants (N = 184) completed psychometric measures of life event stress and personality styles and had cardiovascular responses monitored during a standardised stress testing protocol. In adjusted models, the observed blunted association between life event stress and SBP and DBP was moderated by openness; this was more evident at −1SD below the mean openness value. Further, the association between life event stress and TPR vascular resistance was found to be moderated by conscientiousness. In particular, we found conscientiousness at both the mean and 1SD above the mean buffered against the negative impact of life stress on TPR reactivity. The findings are discussed in relation to theory and future directions.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	52-59
Number of pages	8
Journal	International Journal of Psychophysiology
Volume	126
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2018.02.009
Publication status	Published - Apr 2018

Keywords

Blood pressure
Cardiovascular reactivity
Life events
Personality
Stress

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10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2018.02.009

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title = "Evaluating personality as a moderator of the association between life events stress and cardiovascular reactivity to acute stress",

abstract = "The present study investigated the possible interaction between life events stress and personality in predicting cardiovascular stress responses. Participants (N = 184) completed psychometric measures of life event stress and personality styles and had cardiovascular responses monitored during a standardised stress testing protocol. In adjusted models, the observed blunted association between life event stress and SBP and DBP was moderated by openness; this was more evident at −1SD below the mean openness value. Further, the association between life event stress and TPR vascular resistance was found to be moderated by conscientiousness. In particular, we found conscientiousness at both the mean and 1SD above the mean buffered against the negative impact of life stress on TPR reactivity. The findings are discussed in relation to theory and future directions.",

keywords = "Blood pressure, Cardiovascular reactivity, Life events, Personality, Stress",

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AU - Gallagher, Stephen

AU - O'Riordan, Adam

AU - McMahon, Grace

AU - Creaven, Ann Marie

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AB - The present study investigated the possible interaction between life events stress and personality in predicting cardiovascular stress responses. Participants (N = 184) completed psychometric measures of life event stress and personality styles and had cardiovascular responses monitored during a standardised stress testing protocol. In adjusted models, the observed blunted association between life event stress and SBP and DBP was moderated by openness; this was more evident at −1SD below the mean openness value. Further, the association between life event stress and TPR vascular resistance was found to be moderated by conscientiousness. In particular, we found conscientiousness at both the mean and 1SD above the mean buffered against the negative impact of life stress on TPR reactivity. The findings are discussed in relation to theory and future directions.

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Evaluating personality as a moderator of the association between life events stress and cardiovascular reactivity to acute stress

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Keywords

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