Social participation and cardiovascular stress-response adaptation:
Evidence for enhanced stress tolerance
Abstract
Diminished cardiovascular reactivity is a proposed marker of
motivational dysregulation and is related to a range of adverse
behavioural and health outcomes. Social participation represents the
frequency an individual engages in social activities, is a form of
motivated behaviour, and has been recently linked to lower
cardiovascular responses to acute psychological stress. With recent work
emphasizing the importance of assessing adaptation of the cardiovascular
response to recurrent stress, the aim of the current study is to build
on previous work by examining the relationship between social
participation and cardiovascular stress response adaptation. Analyses
were conducted using a general linear model and previously obtained data
from the Pittsburgh Cold Study 3 (PCS 3). Two hundred and thirteen
participants (M = 30.13; SD = 10.85) completed a social participation
measure and had their systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP, DBP)
and heart rate (HR) monitored across two separate standardized stress
testing sessions. In line with previous research, lower social
participation was related to lower cardiovascular responses to stress.
Findings also indicate that higher levels of social participation were
associated with greater blood pressure habituation to recurrent stress.
Given that cardiovascular habituation to recurrent stress signifies good
health, the implications of these findings are discussed. Key words:
social participation, cardiovascular reactivity, cardiovascular
habituation, blood pressure, Pittsburgh Cold Study.