Reporting of life events, family history of hypertension, and cardiovascular activity at rest and during psychological stress.

This study investigated whether relations between stressful life events and cardiovascular activity obtained during periods of rest and stress varied as a function of family history of hypertension. Within the family history of hypertension group, males exhibited a positive association between the number of negative avoidable events and resting systolic blood pressure, whereas an inverse association between these two variables was obtained for females. Among females with a family history of hypertension, inverse associations between resting diastolic blood pressure and the subjective effects of life event and number of avoidable events were obtained. Analyses revealed that diastolic blood pressure reactivity to stress was associated with those persons with a family history of hypertension who reported fewer negative life events and less subjective effects for these events.