Suppressed aggression and hyperdynamic cardiovascular regulation in normotensive offspring of essential hypertensive parents.

To trace a possible association between suppressed aggression and enhanced responses of the cardiovascular system and plasma catecholamines in a "prehypertensive" state, two groups of 24 subjects with either normal blood pressure and no family history of hypertension or normal blood pressure and a positive family history of hypertension were matched for sex and age (18-24 years). Suppressed aggression was defined by the Rosenzweig Picture-Frustration test, a projective assessment of reactions to everyday stress. Before, during, as well as after application of mental stressors (Stroop color-word conflict test and mental arithmetic), the responses of blood pressure, heart rate, and venous plasma catecholamines were measured. Offspring of hypertensive parents with suppressed aggression (n = 10) had significantly higher heart rates and diastolic blood pressures than offspring of hypertensive parents without suppressed aggression (n = 14), using analyses of covariance for repeated measures to eliminate the influence of anxiety. Plasma norepinephrine responses tended to be greater in the offspring with suppressed aggression. The results suggest that in normotensive offspring of hypertensive parents, a behavioral pattern with suppressed aggression promotes a hyperdynamic cardiovascular state and enhances the hypertensive developmental process.