Montreal, March 23, 2010 Age and gender play a major role in how people respond to stress, according to a new study on 20-to-64-year-olds. Published in the journal Psychophysiology, the investigation was led by scientists from the Universit de Montral and the Montreal Heart Institute in collaboration with colleagues from the Universit du Qubec Montral and McGill University.
"Our findings suggest that women who are more defensive are at increased cardiovascular risk, whereas low defensiveness appears to damage the health of older men," says Bianca D'Antono, a professor at the Universit de Montral Department of Psychiatry and a Montreal Heart Institute researcher.
Defensiveness is a trait characterized by avoidance, denial or repression of information perceived as threatening. In women, a strong defensive reaction to judgment from others or a threat to self-esteem will result in high blood pressure and heart rate. Contrarily, older men with low defensive reactions have a higher cardiovascular rates.
The study was conducted on 81 healthy working men and 118 women. According to Dr. Jean-Claude Tardif a Universit de Montral professor and Montreal Heart Institute researcher, the physiological response to stress in women and older men is linked to this desire of maintaining self-esteem and securing social bonds.
"The sense of belonging is a basic human need," says D'Antono. "Our findings suggest that socialization is innate and that belonging to a group contributed to the survival of our ancestors. Today, it is possible that most people view social exclusion as a threat to their existence. A strong defensive reaction is useful to maintain one's self-esteem faced with this potential threat."
As part of the experiment, participants completed four tasks of varying stress levels. The first task involved reading a neutral text on Antarctica's geography before a person of the same sex. The second and third tasks involved
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| Contact: Sylvain-Jacques Desjardins sylvain-jacques.desjardins@umontreal.ca 514-343-7593 University of Montreal Source:Eurekalert |
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