Self-reported stressors, symptom complaints and psychobiological functioning I: Cardiovascular stress reactivity

Taking into account neuroticism and lifestyle variables (smoking and alcohol consumption), cardiovascular and psychological reactions to stressful films were studied in four groups of subjects selected on self-reported levels of recent stressor load and symptom complaints (low-load/low-symptoms; low-load/high-symptoms; high-load/low-symptoms; high-load/high-symptoms). The films were known either to stimulate or to depress cardiovascular activity. The results showed that psychological reactions (distress; deactivation; openness/involvement) were associated with group membership and condition. In addition, high-symptom subjects were characterized by faster resting heart rates and smaller ECG T-wave amplitudes (TWAs), reflective of greater sympathetic tone on the myocard. Further, low-symptom subjects, in particular those labeled as stress-resistant (high-load/low-symptoms), exhibited larger myocardial responses to the cardiovascular-stimulating films than did high-symptom subjects. Low-symptom subjects showed predicted variations in physiological responses to the different films, whereas the responses by the high-symptom subjects showed lesser variation across films. It is concluded that the cardiovascular responses of low-symptom subjects more accurately followed the energetic demands of the body, whereas the high-symptom subjects were in a comparatively enduring state of arousal.