The Interaction of Smoking and Stress on Cardiovascular Reactivity as Influenced by Hostility, Anger, and Anxiety

by Herberman, Erinn Jessica.

This study examined how smoking and stress interact to affect the reactivity of the cardiovascular system. Findings revealed that subjects who smoked first and who were then exposed to stress showed less cardiovascular reactivity (CVR) to stress compared to non-smoking subjects exposed only to stress. However, the combination of smoking and stress led to higher absolute levels and greater reactivity for all cardiovascular measures compared to stress alone. The ability for trait hostility, state angry affect and state anxious-affect to predict CVR to smoking and stress was also examined. State anxious-affect was the only affectrelated variable that predicted CVR across experimental phases for both smokers and non-smokers. None of the affect-related variables were able to predict CVR during smoking. Trait hostility and state anxious-affect predicted CVR to stress for smokers and non-smokers. Trait hostility was negatively associated with CVR to stress, while state anxious-affect was positively associated with CVR to stress. State angry affect did not predict CVR to stress after accounting for the effects due to trait hostility. 9