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Hostility, Social Support, and Adrenergic Receptor Responsiveness Among African-American and White Men and Women

From Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (J.W.H., A.S., J.A.B., E.C.S.), Duke University Medical Center, Durham; Department of Medicine (A.L.H.) at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Address reprint requests to: Andrew Sherwood, PhD, Duke University Medical Center, MC-3119, Durham, NC 27710. Email: sherw002{at}mc.duke.edu

Received for publication March 6, 2002; revision received August 22, 2002.

OBJECTIVE: We examined the relationship between ß-adrenergic receptor responsiveness and hostility and social support in African American and white men and women.

METHODS: The participants were 149 men and women, aged 25 to 45 years with SBP < 160 and DBP < 105. Hostility and social support were assessed with standardized self-report measures. An isoproterenol challenge was used to evaluate ß-adrenergic receptor responsiveness, and a phenylephrine challenge was used to evaluate -adrenergic receptor responsiveness.

RESULTS: Hostility and social support were unrelated to -adrenergic receptor responsiveness. Hostility and satisfaction with perceived social support predicted ß-adrenergic receptor responsiveness in multiple linear regression analyses controlling for race, gender, age, SBP, and resting heart rate. High hostility was associated with reduced cardiac ß-adrenergic receptor function among both white and African American men. Low levels of satisfaction with social support were associated with reduced cardiac ß-adrenergic receptor responsiveness among men and women. Hostility and satisfaction with social support shared some variance in models predicting ß-adrenergic receptor responsiveness.

CONCLUSIONS: Reduced ß-adrenergic receptor responsiveness is associated with higher levels of hostility among men, and is associated with lower levels of satisfaction with social support among men and women. Impaired ß-adrenergic receptor function, which is a common characteristic of cardiovascular disease, may be a marker of increased cardiovascular disease risk among individuals high in hostility and low in social support.

Key Words: adrenergic receptor responsiveness, • Cook-Medley hostility, • social support.

Abbreviations: AR = adrenergic receptor;; BMI = body mass index;; CD₂₅ = chronotropic dose of isoproterenol required to increase HR by 25 bpm;; DBP = diastolic blood pressure;; ECG = electrocardiogram;; Ho = Cook-Medley Hostility scale;; HR = heart rate;; MAP = mean arterial pressure;; PD₂₅ = dose of phenylephrine required to increase MAP by 25 mmHg;; SBP = systolic blood pressure;; SSQ = Sarason Brief Social Support Questionnaire.

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