Trait dominance and cardiovascular functioning during social stress.

Cardiovascular reactivity (CVR) to stress has been found to be an important indicator of future ill health, and individual differences in personality have been posited to explain disparities in outcomes. Dominance is associated with forceful persons who desire hierarchy in social interactions. This study investigated dominance and CVR during social or asocial stressors. Sixty-one women, categorized as low, moderate, or high in dominance using the Jackson Personality Research Form, completed a social or asocial stressor while undergoing cardiovascular measurement during baseline, stressor, and recovery phases. A 3 × 2 × 3 analysis of covariance revealed a significant Phase × Stressor × Dominance interaction for systolic blood pressure (SBP). Women with lower and moderate dominance-but not women with higher dominance-exhibited greater SBP responses to stress in the social condition compared with the asocial condition. No significant difference was found for women with higher dominance, indicative of blunted SBP during the social stressor. During recovery, women with lower dominance had marginally elevated SBP in the social condition compared with the asocial condition. The current study extends prior knowledge of the association between dominance and CVR, such that greater dominance was associated with blunted SBP and lower dominance was associated with attenuated recovery to social stress.

Trait dominance is associated with vascular cardiovascular responses, and attenuated habituation, to social stress.

Both exaggerated and diminished levels of cardiovascular reactivity have been associated with cardiovascular ill health. Dysregulation of hemodynamic mechanisms which control cardiovascular functioning may account for some individual differences in health outcomes. Trait dominance has also been associated with poor cardiovascular health in studies of humans and animals. The current study investigated the relationship between trait dominance and cardiovascular habituation to repeated social stress in humans. Forty-seven undergraduate women completed two consecutive speech tasks, preceded by a baseline period, and separated by an inter-task resting phase. Continuous cardiovascular functioning was monitored using the Finometer device. The trait dominance subscale of the Jackson Personality Research Form was completed. Mixed ANCOVA with trait dominance revealed a significant 3 (dominance) × 4 (phase) interaction for total peripheral resistance (TPR), such that TPR varied across experimental phases and was associated with trait dominance, F(1, 43)=12.88, p=.001, partial η(2)=.23. Further mixed ANCOVA for TPR reactivity to Exposures 1 and 2 revealed a significant 3 × 2 interaction with trait dominance, F(2, 40)=7.77, p=.001, partial η(2)=.28, such that higher dominance was associated with attenuated TPR habituation to Exposure 2. Trait dominance was significantly associated with vascular-oriented cardiovascular functioning, and with attenuated habituation to social stress. Vascular-dominated stress responses have in some instances been associated with ill-health, suggesting that a failure to habituate to stress, and a vascular response style could reflect potential mechanisms through which dominance is associated with poor future cardiovascular health.