Cardiovascular Responses to Conflict Stress in African American Mother-Daughter Dyads

Abstract

This study evaluated the effect of family conflict interactions on cardiovascular responses of African American hypertensive and normotensive mother-daughter dyads and determined degree of mother-daughter concordance of physiologic response. Sixteen African American hypertensive mothers and 21 African American normotensive mothers and their teenage daughters discussed 2 topics, one involving no conflict and the other involving participant-identified conflict. Differences in blood pressure (BP), both systolic and diastolic, and heart rate (HR) were examined. As expected, hypertensive mothers and their daughters had higher BP levels (responsivity) than did their normotensive counterparts. For mothers, differences were due largely to group differences at baseline. For daughters, differences were due largely to group differences in body mass. BP reactivity (change) did not differ significantly between the groups. Few HR effects were observed. There was moderate BP concordance and low HR concordance. The findings suggest that conflict management and body mass may be important factors to consider among families at risk for hypertension.