Essential Hypertension and Social Coping Behavior

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Abstract
Experimental studies of personality as a psychological risk factor in essential hypertension are reviewed. While no single personality trait has been found to be consistently and specifically related to hypertension, a certain behavior pattern emerges from this literature. This pattern, which includes increased anxiety, inappropriate coping behaviors in socially distressing situations and, possibly, a negative cognitive set, is compared with experimental findings from social competence research. Considerable overlap between the pattern of behavioral characteristics of hypertensives and individuals who display deficits in social skills is noted. The flight/fight concept in stress research, the differentiation of assertion from aggression and inhibition and their physiological equivalents are integrated in a three-dimensional model of social functioning in hypertensives. The clinical implications of this conceptualization are discussed in reference to the need for more comprehensive behavioral approaches to hypertension management.