Social support reduces cardiovascular reactivity to psychological challenge: a laboratory model.

Kamarck, Thomas W.; Manuck, Stephen B.; Jennings, J. Richard

doi:10.1097/00006842-199001000-00004

Cited by 373 publications

(264 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Previous studies have shown that the support of a friend rather than a stranger was, in the main, associated with reduced reactivity (19)(20)(21)(22)(23). What the present data add is that the sex of the supporter is important in determining whether this attenuation effect is observed; support from a male friend was associated with relatively reduced BP reactivity whereas support from a female friend was associated with increased BP reactivity.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 43%

Social Support, Social Intimacy, and Cardiovascular Reactions to Acute Psychological Stress

2009

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Background: Exaggerated cardiovascular reactions to psychological stress are considered a risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity. Social support may reduce such risk by attenuating cardiovascular reactivity to stress. Purpose: To examine the effects of three independent social support variables and their interaction on cardiovascular reactivity to acute stress. The variables were stranger or friend presence; active supportive or passive presence, and male or female presence. Methods: Cardiovascular reactions to mental arithmetic stress were measured in 112 healthy young women tested in one of eight distinct independent conditions: active supportive male friend; active supportive female friend, passive male friend; passive female friend; active supportive male stranger; active supportive female stranger, passive male stranger; and passive female stranger. Results:Support from a friend rather than a stranger was associated with attenuated blood pressure reactivity, but only when the supporter was a male friend. Support from a male stranger or female friend was associated with augmented blood pressure reactivity.Conclusions: This interaction between the intimacy and sex of the supporter on cardiovascular reactivity extends the findings of previous laboratory studies of social support and can, to an extent, be interpreted in terms of Social Comparison Theory.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 43%

Social Support, Social Intimacy, and Cardiovascular Reactions to Acute Psychological Stress

2009

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“…Reminders of supernatural allies appear to attenuate risk perception, paralleling the role of social support in reducing anxiety in challenging circumstances (Kamarck, Manuck, & Jennings, 1990), and consistent with understandings of supernatural entities as capable of protecting believers from harm. Subtle reminders of God have been observed to increase willingness to take physical risks, an effect mediated by decreased perceptions of the self as likely to be injured (Kupor, Laurin, & Levav, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 56%

With God on our side: Religious primes reduce the envisioned physical formidability of a menacing adversary

2016

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The imagined support of benevolent supernatural agents attenuates anxiety and risk perception. Here, we extend these findings to judgments of the threat posed by a potentially violent adversary. Conceptual representations of bodily size and strength summarize factors that determine the relative threat posed by foes. The proximity of allies moderates the envisioned physical formidability of adversaries, suggesting that cues of access to supernatural allies will reduce the envisioned physical formidability of a threatening target. Across two studies, subtle cues of both supernatural and earthly social support reduced the envisioned physical formidability of a violent criminal. These manipulations had no effect on the perceived likelihood of encountering non-conflictual physical danger, raising the possibility that imagined supernatural support leads participants to view themselves not as shielded from encountering perilous situations, but as protected should perils arise.

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“…The presence of social support may also attenuate blood pressure and heart rate responses to stressful stimuli in humans. 140,141 In summary, these data suggest that social factors promote atherogenesis through activation of the autonomic nervous system.…”

Section: Socioeconomic Statusmentioning

confidence: 76%

Impact of Psychological Factors on the Pathogenesis of Cardiovascular Disease and Implications for Therapy

1999

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Abstract-Recent studies provide clear and convincing evidence that psychosocial factors contribute significantly to the pathogenesis and expression of coronary artery disease (CAD). This evidence is composed largely of data relating CAD risk to 5 specific psychosocial domains: (1) depression, (2) anxiety, (3) personality factors and character traits, (4) social isolation, and (5) chronic life stress. Pathophysiological mechanisms underlying the relationship between these entities and CAD can be divided into behavioral mechanisms, whereby psychosocial conditions contribute to a higher frequency of adverse health behaviors, such as poor diet and smoking, and direct pathophysiological mechanisms, such as neuroendocrine and platelet activation. An extensive body of evidence from animal models (especially the cynomolgus monkey, Macaca fascicularis) reveals that chronic psychosocial stress can lead, probably via a mechanism involving excessive sympathetic nervous system activation, to exacerbation of coronary artery atherosclerosis as well as to transient endothelial dysfunction and even necrosis. Evidence from monkeys also indicates that psychosocial stress reliably induces ovarian dysfunction, hypercortisolemia, and excessive adrenergic activation in premenopausal females, leading to accelerated atherosclerosis.Also reviewed are data relating CAD to acute stress and individual differences in sympathetic nervous system responsivity. New technologies and research from animal models demonstrate that acute stress triggers myocardial ischemia, promotes arrhythmogenesis, stimulates platelet function, and increases blood viscosity through hemoconcentration. In the presence of underlying atherosclerosis (eg, in CAD patients), acute stress also causes coronary vasoconstriction. Recent data indicate that the foregoing effects result, at least in part, from the endothelial dysfunction and injury induced by acute stress. Hyperresponsivity of the sympathetic nervous system, manifested by exaggerated heart rate and blood pressure responses to psychological stimuli, is an intrinsic characteristic among some individuals. Current data link sympathetic nervous system hyperresponsivity to accelerated development of carotid atherosclerosis in human subjects and to exacerbated coronary and carotid atherosclerosis in monkeys.Thus far, intervention trials designed to reduce psychosocial stress have been limited in size and number. Specific suggestions to improve the assessment of behavioral interventions include more complete delineation of the physiological mechanisms by which such interventions might work; increased use of new, more convenient "alternative" end points for behavioral intervention trials; development of specifically targeted behavioral interventions (based on profiling of patient factors); and evaluation of previously developed models of predicting behavioral change. The importance of maximizing the efficacy of behavioral interventions is underscored by the recognition that psychosocial stresses tend to cluster together. ...

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Social support reduces cardiovascular reactivity to psychological challenge: a laboratory model.

Cited by 373 publications

References 37 publications

Social Support, Social Intimacy, and Cardiovascular Reactions to Acute Psychological Stress

Social Support, Social Intimacy, and Cardiovascular Reactions to Acute Psychological Stress

With God on our side: Religious primes reduce the envisioned physical formidability of a menacing adversary

Impact of Psychological Factors on the Pathogenesis of Cardiovascular Disease and Implications for Therapy

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