Effects of Sex and Disposition on Cardiovascular Reactivity and Recovery

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of sex and optimism on cardiovascular reactivity and recovery from a psychological stressor (timed serial subtraction). Participants consisted of 35 males and 46 females with an average age of 20.4 years. A total of 26 cardiovascular measurements were taken over a 26 minute period consisting of 10 minutes baseline, 6 minutes reactivity, and 10 minutes recovery. It was hypothesized that there would be a main effect for optimism on systolic and diastolic blood pressure and a sex by disposition interaction for heart rate. Results found that optimism had no significant main effect on any cardiovascular measures (systolic, diastolic, or heart rate).