Biomedical subjects

J Suls

Publications and source records attributed to J Suls.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1999

Cardiovascular reactivity and neuroticism: results from a laboratory and controlled ambulatory stress protocol.

A laboratory and controlled ambulatory protocol was used to study whether there are differences in the cardiovascular reactivity of persons varying in neuroticism, the disposition to experience negative subjective emotions. Thirty-six individuals (19 men, 17 women) who scored approximately 1 standard deviation above or below the mean on the NEO PI-R Neuroticism scale (Costa & McCrae, 1992) were recruited from a larger pool of undergraduate students. Participants, who had been outfitted with an ambulatory blood pressure/heart rate monitor, were exposed to 5 laboratory stressors and 7 field stressors during a 6-hour protocol. Results indicated that individuals scoring high in neuroticism showed blood pressure reactivity to laboratory and field stressors that was comparable to that of persons low in neuroticism. Aggregrating responses across stressors, there was evidence of exaggerated heart rate responses. The results suggested that, although neuroticism is related to high levels of negative subjective experience, differences between persons scoring high versus low in neuroticism were not exhibited strongly at the cardiovascular level. The implications for stress, coping, and disease are discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1999

Coping efforts in daily life: role of big five traits and problem appraisals.

The role of problem appraisal and Big Five traits in coping with bothersome daily events was investigated. Community-residing men completed diaries regarding stressful events and coping for eight consecutive days. Results of multi-level analyses indicated that lower perceived control over events was associated with greater reliance on distraction, catharsis, acceptance, seeking emotional social support, but less use of direct action. Stressor severity was positively associated with catharsis and religion, but negatively associated with acceptance. Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to experience, and Conscientiousness predicted coping strategy use. In addition, broad personality dimensions moderated relations between appraisals (perceived uncontrolability and severity) and coping strategy use. Although previous research implicated perceived control in coping, the present study suggests that both appraisals of stressor severity and individual differences in personality are also important determinants of coping strategy use at the daily level.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1997

Hiding worries from One's spouse: associations between coping via protective buffering and distress in male post-myocardial infarction patients and their wives.

The relationship between protective buffering, a style of coping in which the individual hides his/her concerns from spouse, and level of distress was studied among post-myocardial infarction (MI) patients and their spouses. Forty-three male married MI survivors and their wives completed measures of psychological distress and protective buffering at 4 weeks and 6 months post-hospital discharge. At both time periods, a greater propensity for protective buffering by the patient was related to higher levels of patient distress. Protective buffering by wife was also associated with higher levels of wife distress. In addition, patient buffering at 4 weeks predicted increased patient distress at 6 months. The results suggest that male MI patients who conceal their worries from their spouses adjust more poorly over time.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1997

Differential roles of neuroticism, extraversion, and event desirability for mood in daily life: an integrative model of top-down and bottom-up influences.

Top-down and bottom-up approaches were combined to assess the relative impact of extraversion, neuroticism, and daily events on daily mood. Ninety-six community-residing men completed diaries for 8 consecutive nights. Extraversion predicted positive mood, whereas neuroticism predicted positive and negative mood. Undesirable events predicted negative mood and, more modestly, positive mood. Desirable events predicted positive mood. Negative dispositional and situational factors play a larger role in daily positive affect than positive factors do in daily negative affect.

Adult↗

PubMed1997

The proxy model of social comparison for self-assessment of ability.

One purpose of the social comparison of abilities is to determine action possibilities-"Can I do X?" By comparing ourselves with a proxy who has attempted X, we can determine our likelihood of success. A good proxy is one who has performed the same as us on an initial task requiring the ability. In addition, however, a good proxy must be similar on related attributes so that we can be confident that the proxy's performance on the initial task was maximal. In the case of a task requiring multiple abilities, more than one proxy may be used.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1996

The effects of caffeine on ambulatory blood pressure, heart rate, and mood in coffee drinkers.

The present study examined the effects of caffeine, as typically ingested through coffee, on ambulatory systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP), heart rate, and mood. Normotensive coffee drinkers wore a BP monitor for two 24-hr periods, consuming decaffeinated coffee. Each cup was supplemented with 125 mg caffeine or cornstarch. Systolic and diastolic BPs were elevated on the day caffeine was consumed (maximum, 3.6 and 5.6 mm Hg, respectively), most notably shortly after ingestion. Heart rate was higher overnight following caffeine consumption. Negative Affectivity was also increased by caffeine, but Positive Affectivity and tiredness were unaffected.

Adult↗

PubMed1996

Personality and coping: three generations of research.

This article introduces the Journal of Personality's special issue on coping and personality. It first presents a historical overview of the psychological study of how people cope with stress and identifies three generations of theory and research: (a) the psychoanalysts and the ego development school, which tended to equate personality and coping strategies; (b) the transactional approach, which appeared in the 1960s and emphasized situational and cognitive influences on coping while downplaying the role of individual differences; and (c) the most recent, "third generation," whose work is represented in this special issue and focuses on the role of personality in coping while maintaining strong operational distinctions among coping, personality, appraisal, and adaptational outcomes. This introduction concludes with a discussion of unresolved conceptual and methodological issues and a brief orientation to the third-generation articles that follow in this special issue.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1996

Coping and personality: third time's the charm?

In this special issue, a third generation of research is represented which recognizes and demonstrates that individual differences in personality play an important role in the coping process. Although progress is apparent, there are several unresolved issues, including the best way to measure coping and whether "type of coping" matters in naturalistic settings. Three potentially important parameters of coping-range, patterning, and competence-are described, but only the first has received systematic empirical attention. The study of coping might also be advanced by researchers giving more attention to the differences between problem situations in which traits are more easily expressed ("weak" situations) versus those where normative criteria and constraints are explicit ("strong" situations).

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1996

Reproducibility of blood pressure and heart rate reactivity: a meta-analysis.

Reproducibilities of blood pressure and heart rate (HR) reactivity reported in studies assessing responses to the same laboratory stressors across occasions were reviewed with meta-analytic techniques. Changes in HR had the greatest reproducibility (r = .555), followed by systolic blood pressure (SBP) (.407) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (.348). Both SBP and HR response reproducibility was higher at shorter test-retest intervals, whereas DBP values varied unsystematically with length of test-retest interval. Older samples exhibited higher SBP and DBP reproducibility to stressors. SBP and DBP reproducibilities were better for tasks that did not make speech demands. The reliability of reactivity assessment was higher when based on three or more measurements. On the basis of available evidence, the drop in stress reproducibility, as test-retest interval increases, places limits on the viability of BP reactivity as a strong marker or risk factor for coronary heart disease.

Aging↗

PubMed1995

Relationship of trait anger to resting blood pressure: a meta-analysis.

A series of meta-analyses were conducted to assess whether anger is related to essential hypertension. The present review also considered the relevance of the distinction between anger experience and anger expression, the effect of participant selection bias, and the white-coat hypertension effect for the anger-blood pressure (BP) association. Anger experience was correlated with elevated BP, but the relationship was small and highly variable. When positive effects emerged, both participant selection and the reliability of BP measurement posed interpretational problems. Persons high in anger are not merely exhibiting elevated BP in response to testing, so a white-coat effect is not evident. Being labeled as hypertensive may contribute to higher anger scores, however. The review suggests lines of future research concerning associations between trait anger and blood pressure.

Anger↗

PubMed1994

A multilevel data-analytic approach for evaluation of relationships between daily life stressors and symptomatology: patients with irritable bowel syndrome.

Four statistical strategies were used to evaluate whether occurrence of daily stressors increases lower gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients. Across-subject concurrent correlations between weekly stress and symptoms were positive but casually ambiguous and obscured between- and within-subject and occasion relationships. Multiple regressions assessing (weekly and daily) relations showed that prior symptoms predicted subsequent symptoms but that prior and concurrent daily stress had no consistent effects. Idiographic correlations also showed little evidence for a relationship between stress and symptoms. Daily stress did not appear to increase GI symptoms in IBS patients on a general basis. Daily recording methodology, in conjunction with within-subject analytic strategies, is proposed as an innovative approach to examine relations between stress and physical symptomatology.

Adult↗

PubMed1994

Specificity in social support: perceptions of helpful and unhelpful provider behaviors among irritable bowel syndrome, headache, and cancer patients.

Perceived social support was assessed among 53 patients suffering from non-life-threatening chronic illnesses (i.e., irritable bowel syndrome or recurrent headache). Subjects recalled predominantly helpful support interactions and reported the three major types of social support as equally helpful. In addition, irritable bowel syndrome patients, who experience embarrassing physical symptoms, reported fewer instances of tangible assistance than chronic headache patients. Comparisons to cancer patients studied by Dakof and Taylor (1990) revealed differences in perceived social support as a function of diagnosis. These results offer insight into the needs of patients with noncatastrophic illnesses and suggest that the challenges and tasks confronting these individuals are unique from those encountered by patients with catastrophic diseases.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1993

Daily stress and the trajectory of mood: spillover, response assimilation, contrast, and chronic negative affectivity.

Experience sampling methodology was used to examine the effects of current and prior problems on negative mood within and across days. Forty male community residents wore signal watches and kept dairy records of problem occurrence and mood 8 times a day for 8 consecutive days. Trait negative affectivity (NA), prior mood, and concurrent stress were related to mood during the day. Mood in response to a current problem was worse if the prior time had been problem free than if the prior time had been stressful. High NA Ss were more reactive to concurrent stressors than were low NAs, but the effect was small. NA and current-day stress were the major influences of mood across days. High NAs were more distressed by current-day problems and recovered more slowly from problems of the preceding day. The benefits of conceptualizing the effects of daily stressors on mood in terms of spillover, response assimilation, habituation, and contrast are discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1993

The relationship between trait hostility and cardiovascular reactivity: a quantitative review and analysis.

Results of a series of meta-analyses indicated that high and low scorers on most trait hostility measures do not consistently differ in blood pressure or heart rate reactivity to traditional laboratory stressors. The few significant effects were modest in size, and instances of hyporeactivity were found. When stressors were classified as provocative versus nonprovocative, in accord with Trait x Situation approaches, however, Potential for Hostility-Interpersonal Style was predictive of exaggerated systolic and diastolic blood pressure responses and the Cook-Medley Hostility Inventory was predictive of diastolic blood pressure responses to provocative stressors. Hence, the next generation of studies of the hostility-reactivity hypothesis should emphasize interpersonal stressors. Alternative mechanisms for the disease consequences of hostility should also be examined, however, because the available evidence indicates that the hyperreactivity hypothesis is unlikely to furnish a complete explanation for the association between hostility and heart disease.

Arousal↗

PubMed1991

Multiple role juggling and daily mood states in working mothers: an experience sampling study.

The effects of multiple role juggling (i.e., simultaneously attending to demands of different roles) on daily mood states of employed mothers were examined. Ss completed activity and mood questionnaires 8 times a day for 8 days. Multiple role juggling had immediate negative effects on task enjoyment and mood. However, contrast effects and habituation to role juggling occurred when mood and satisfaction were examined over time. Furthermore, mood states tended to spill over from one episode to the next within a day, but contrast effects were found across days. These results reflect the complex nature of psychological adjustment to multiple role occupancy.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1990

Relationship between JAS- and FTAS-Type A behavior and non-CHD illness: a prospective study controlling for negative affectivity.

In addition to posing a risk for coronary heart disease (CHD), Type A behavior has been suggested as a risk factor for non-CHD illness. Past evidence, however, has relied chiefly on retrospective studies of self-reported illness that failed to control for the potentially confounding effects of negative affectivity. The present investigation was an 18-month prospective study of Type A behavior and medical records of illness in which chronic negative affectivity was also assessed. Negative affectivity was associated with retrospective self-reported illness, but only Type A, as measured by the Jenkins Activity Survey (JAS) and the Framingham Type A Scale (FTAS), predicted medical records of subsequent illness severity and number of illness-related medical visits. Controlling for negative affectivity did not reduce these significant relationships. It was concluded that persons scoring high on the JAS or the FTAS may be a greater risk of minor illness when objective measures of illness are assessed over a period of 1 year or more. Alternative explanations and future directions for research are discussed.

Adult↗

PubMed1989

Effects of sensory and procedural information on coping with stressful medical procedures and pain: a meta-analysis.

A meta-analysis of studies on preparation for medical procedures and pain evaluated the relative effects of sensory; procedural, and combined sensory-procedural preoperational information on coping outcomes. Results indicated that, in contrast to sensory information, procedural information provided no significant benefits over control group instruction. Combined sensory-procedural preparation, however, yielded the strongest and most consistent benefits in terms of reducing negative affect, pain reports, and other-rated distress. The meta-analytic results are consistent with the dual process preparation hypothesis, which proposes that the information combination is optimal because procedural details provide a map of specific events while sensory information facilitates their interpretation as nonthreatening. It is concluded that a combined preparation is the preferred clinical option.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1989

The relation between type A behavior and chronic emotional distress: a meta-analysis.

A meta-analysis was conducted of studies examining the relation between Type A behavior and chronic emotional distress as measured by standard psychological scales. Aggregating across all studies, the average effect size was .27, indicating a positive association between Type A and chronic dysphoria; however, there was considerable variability in the size of the relation among studies. Partitioning by Type A measure revealed that Structured Interview-assessed Type A was unrelated to chronic dysphoric emotions; however, most of the self-report measures of Type A behavior were moderately correlated with upset. The Framingham Type A Scale and the Bortner Scale showed the strongest relations. Thus, contrary to the traditional view, Type A measured by self-report does have some emotional concomitants, although they are not in the pathological range. Also discussed are how the results bear on the proposal that the maladjusted personality confers coronary risk, the implications for reported associations between Type A and illness complaints, and for the study of the Type A as a social psychological construct.

Adolescent↗