Biomedical subjects

T O Engebretson

Publications and source records attributed to T O Engebretson.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2000

Plasma homocysteine concentrations are positively associated with hostility and anger.

Homocysteine is a sulphur amino acid that is positively associated with risk of vascular disease. Very few behavioral or psychological factors have been studied in relationship to homocysteine levels, despite the fact that several psychological factors have also been linked with risk for cardiovascular disease. One psychological attribute showing a strong association with risk is hostility, which is prospectively predictive of future cardiovascular disease endpoints. Another related psychological factor is anger expression; coronary heart disease risk is associated with both heightened expression and inhibition of anger. The purpose of this study was to test the relationship of hostility and anger expression with homocysteine concentrations in a sample of healthy, middle-aged men and women. Participants completed the Cook-Medley hostility questionnaire, the Speilberger Anger Expression questionnaire, and had blood taken for the assessment of plasma homocysteine concentrations. Results indicated positive and significant associations between hostility and homocysteine levels for all participants, and positive and significant correlations between anger-in and homocysteine levels for men only. These data are among the first to test the relationship between homocysteine and psychological risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, and suggest one potential mechanism for the increased cardiovascular risk associated with hostility and anger expression.

Anger↗

PubMed1999

A simple laboratory method for inducing anger: a preliminary investigation.

To facilitate the experimental study of anger, we developed a simple laboratory method to induce anger. This anger induction (AI) is similar in format to the Velten Mood Induction Procedure for depression (VMIP-D), and involves reading descriptors of anger experience, recalling relevant personal memories, and evoking the mood suggested by the sentence/memory. We administered the AI and VMIP-D to 81 undergraduate men and women and collected mood ratings before, during, and after each mood induction. The AI exhibited good sensitivity and specificity in that it induced moderate to greater increases in anger (>1 SD change) in 68% of the sample, significant decreases in happiness, and minimal changes in other emotions. Mood responses to the AI and VMIP-D were influenced by gender and order of presentation. Uses and limitations of this method are discussed.

Adult↗

PubMed1999

Quality of life and anxiety in a phase II cardiac rehabilitation program.

PURPOSE: Cardiac rehabilitation programs increasingly attempt to improve both quantity and quality of life (QOL). Documenting QOL changes requires appropriate instruments, and interpreting QOL data requires an understanding of the factors that influence such reports. METHODS: To address both issues, we assessed QOL among 77 patients before and after participation in a 12-wk phase II cardiac rehabilitation program. Individual psychological differences in trait anxiety and defensiveness were also assessed. The sample was 76.6% male, 70.1% married, and had a mean age of 58.8 yr. RESULTS: The QOL scales detected changes which occurred over the 12-wk testing period. QOL reports were strongly and differentially influenced by individual differences in trait anxiety, such that patients reporting high trait anxiety displayed poorer QOL than those low in trait anxiety. More specifically, trait anxiety influenced affect reports most strongly, functional aspects moderately, and physical aspects of QOL reports the least. CONCLUSIONS: Defensiveness was unrelated to QOL reports. The 17% of participants who voluntarily left the rehabilitation program prematurely were characterized as younger, having better self-perceived health, having a less severe cardiac history, and being high in both trait anxiety and defensiveness. Study benefits and limitations are discussed.

Analysis of Variance↗

PubMed1995

Anger expression and lipid concentrations.

We used 2 different strategies to examine the relation between anger expression and lipid concentrations in 116 middle-aged men. Using the common analytic method used in the literature, the group crossing approach, we examined whether Anger-In. Anger-Out, and their interaction were related to lipids. Regression analyses revealed that Anger-In and Anger-Out were marginally related to total cholesterol. These associations disappeared after controlling for hostility, anger, and anxiety. Using a new intraindividual difference approach, we determined individuals' relative dominance of Anger-In and Anger-Out and examined linear and quadratic associations with lipids. Regression analyses revealed the quadratic was related to both total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-c), indicating that individuals who almost always express their anger or almost never express their anger had both elevated total cholesterol and LDL-c. The curvilinear association with total cholesterol persisted even after controlling for hostility, anger, and anxiety.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1992

Influence of age, sex, and family on Type A and hostile attitudes and behaviors.

We describe the influence of age, sex, and family on Type A and hostility indices that have been related to rates of coronary heart disease (CHD). The sample consisted of 120 girls and 95 boys (ages 6 to 18 years) and 141 women and 120 men (ages 31 to 62 years) from 142 families residing in an upper middle class community. Results showed little familial aggregation of Type A and hostility. Adults had higher Structured Interview (SI) Potential for Hostility ratings than did children, whereas children had higher Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)-derived Hostility scores and SI Anger-In ratings than did adults. Male adults and male children had higher SI Potential for Hostility ratings and MMPI-derived Hostility scores than did their female counterparts. The heightened hostility of males may account, in part, for their heightened risk of CHD relative to females'.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1989

Relations between anger expression and cardiovascular reactivity: reconciling inconsistent findings through a matching hypothesis.

Previous psychophysiological research has demonstrated that both anger expression and anger suppression are related to cardiovascular responses, but in an inconsistent fashion. The present study tested the following hypotheses: (a) that the influence of anger expression style on psychophysiological responses would be limited to Ss exposed to an anger instigation, and (b) that the specific pattern of psychophysiological responses would vary as a function of whether Ss were induced to use their preferred vs. nonpreferred mode of anger expression style in response to the instigation. Seventy-eight male college undergraduates were randomly assigned to work on a task with either an annoying or a pleasant confederate and subsequently to write either a negative or a positive evaluation of the confederate. Blood pressure was measured intermittently and heart rate continuously throughout task performance and a subsequent 15-min rest period. Ss' preferred method of anger expression had been previously assessed by a self-report questionnaire. Systolic blood pressure results generally were consistent with the hypotheses. Implications of the findings for the etiology of cardiovascular diseases are discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The impact of radiation therapy on quality of life in patients with cancer.

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to evaluate the physical and mental status change during and after a course of radiation treatment in patients with cancer. DESCRIPTION OF STUDY: Twenty-four patients with various malignant diseases were enrolled, including 9 men and 15 women, whose median age was 64.5, to receive radiation therapy. All patients also received psychosocial support from nurses, social workers, and/or organized support groups. The Rand 36-item survey 1.0 (SF-36) was completed at the beginning, the second week, the completion of treatment, and 1 and 3 months after treatment for the evaluation of physical component scores and mental component scores. Karnofsky performance scale and toxicity scores were determined by the treating nurses and physicians. RESULTS: The physical component scores of evaluated patients before treatment were approximately 20% lower than those of the general U.S. population, whereas mental component scores were similar to those of the general U.S. population. After treatment started, Karnofsky performance scale decreased concurrently with an increased rate of toxicity. Both physical and mental component scores were relatively stable throughout the course of evaluation. Mental component scores were the only predictor of toxicity during the treatment. Karnofsky performance scale dropped to their lowest point at the completion of treatment and then improved at 1-month follow-up. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: The patients who had higher mental component scores before treatment appeared to have higher, and improving, physical component scores throughout the course of evaluation. Along with complementary social support, the implementation of psychosocial support early and throughout the course of treatment may result in physical benefits and improving overall quality of life. Care should also be taken to make psychosocial support available to patients after the completion of treatment.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Familial aggregation of blood pressure and heart rate responses during behavioral stress.

Parent-offspring and sibling resemblances in blood pressure and heart rate responses to behavioral stress were evaluated in a sample of 142 families residing in an upper-middle-class community in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area between 1983 and 1985. The sample consisted of 121 daughters and 96 sons ranging in age from 7 to 18 years, and 141 mothers and 119 fathers ranging in age from 31 to 62 years. Three stressors were presented to all participants: serial subtraction, mirror image tracing, and isometric handgrip exercise. Multivariate analyses of the stress responses were based on maximum likelihood estimations of the magnitude of association, which provided collective significance tests, and were adjusted for familial resemblance of resting pressure and heart rate as well as body mass index. These analyses showed significant parent-offspring and sibling associations in resting blood pressure and body mass index, which replicate those found in previous epidemiological investigations. The novel findings in this study were the sibling similarities in heart rate responses to mirror image tracing and in systolic blood pressure responses to isometric handgrip exercise. An analysis of a subset of the sample--only those nonmedicated parents compliant with instructions not to smoke or drink caffeinated or alcoholic beverages for 3 hr prior to testing and their children--showed a parent-offspring resemblance in systolic blood pressure responses to isometric exercise. This analysis, along with the significant sibling association from the full sample, suggests that systolic blood pressure responses to static exercise might aggregate in the family. The results are discussed in light of previous twin data. The relative paucity of significant parent-offspring associations of physiological parameters during serial subtraction and mirror image tracing tasks implies that non-familial influences are most important in determining cardiovascular responses to psychological stress.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Dimensions of hostility in men, women, and boys: relationships to personality and cardiovascular responses to stress.

Ratings of Potential for Hostility and Hostile Style based on responses during the Type A Structured Interview (SI) are related to incidence of coronary heart disease morbidity and mortality. As there are very limited data on what precisely the SI ratings of hostility mean, the present study evaluated, in a sample of middle-aged men and women, and adolescent boys, a) the distributions of SI ratings of hostility according to gender and age group; b) their relationships to other hostility and personality scores; and c) their relationships to heightened cardiovascular responses to psychological stressors, which are thought to be a major mechanism linking behavior and coronary heart disease. Results showed that men are higher than women and boys in Potential for Hostility and Hostile Style ratings, which are, by and large, unrelated to standardized questionnaire measures of hostility and anger expression. Men (but not women or boys) who exhibited elevated systolic blood pressure during standardized laboratory stressors tended to be rated as high on Hostile Style. We conclude that SI Hostile Style ratings are measuring a unique aspect of personality, one with apparent importance for coronary heart disease and perhaps for men's cardiovascular responses during stress.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Endocrine correlates of sadness and elation.

In a series of three exploratory studies, we examined the endocrine correlates of elation and sadness produced by the Velten Mood Induction Procedure (VMIP). In Study 1, 10 college females participated in elation and sadness mood inductions on separate days. In Study 2, 12 college females participated in a neutral mood induction. In Study 3, 16 college-aged actresses participated in elation and sadness mood inductions as in Study 1. At regular intervals in each study, we assessed subjective ratings of emotions, serum cortisol and growth hormone, and heart rate and blood pressure. Results demonstrated that the VMIP induced the desired moods. Serum cortisol increased equally in response to both the sadness and elation mood inductions, but showed no change in response to the neutral mood induction. Select associations between affect and cortisol levels were also observed. Interestingly, our data from Study 3 also suggest that an association may exist between elation and growth hormone. These endocrine changes did not appear to be a function of general arousal as indexed by cardiovascular changes. We conclude that elation and sadness are associated with endocrine concomitants and that the VMIP is a viable method for examining such associations. These previously unreported affect-endocrine relationships are discussed and implications for psychobiological theories of emotion are considered.

Adolescent↗