Type D Personality is Related to Cardiovascular and Neuroendocrine Reactivity to Acute Stress

Objective: The relationship between Type D personality (the joint tendency towards negative affectivity [NA] and social inhibition [SI]) and laboratory indices of cardiovascular health was examined.

Method: 173 undergraduates (86 male) completed a stress protocol involving a mental arithmetic task with harassment. Blood pressure, heart rate (HR), and salivary cortisol were measured both prior to and during the task.

Results: The relationships between personality and both resting and reactivity levels were examined. Results indicated that socially inhibited men demonstrated heightened blood pressure reactivity. NA was related to dampened HR change during the stress task in men. Correlational analyses indicated that both Type D dimensions were associated with greater cortisol reactivity to stress; however, results no longer remained significant in more stringent regression analyses.

Conclusion: Findings are consistent with the noted relationship between Type D and cardiovascular disease (CVD), and suggest a possible pathway to disease via an association with physiological hyperreactivity.