Ethnic differences in cardiovascular responses to laboratory stress: A comparison between Asian and white Americans

Biing Jiun Shen, Laura R. Stroud, Raymond Niaura

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Compared to other ethnic groups, Asian Americans show significantly lower rates of cardiovascular disease (CVD). We tested the hypothesis that Asian Americans would show reduced cardiovascular responses to laboratory Stressors than Caucasians. Forty-three Asians (18 men, 25 women) and 77 Caucasians (36 men, 41 women) with a mean age of 24 years (SD = 3.93) participated in a stress reactivity protocol consisting of four tasks (speech, serial subtraction, mirror tracing, handgrip) while heart rate (HR), systolic blood pressure (SBP), and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were measured. Asian Americans demonstrated overall lower reactivity across tasks for SBP F(1,117 = 7.48, p < .01) and a trend toward lower HR response F(1,117 = 3.18, p < .10). A significant ethnicity by task interaction was observed for HR reactivity F(3,351 = 2.94, p < .05) such that Caucasians showed greater responses for the subtraction task.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)181-186
Number of pages6
JournalInternational Journal of Behavioral Medicine
Volume11
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 2004

Keywords

  • Asian American
  • Cardiovascular reactivity
  • Caucasian American
  • Ethnic differences

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Applied Psychology

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