Essential hypertension: hostility, psychiatric symptoms and marital stress in patients and spouses

Scores on self-report questionnaire measures of hostility, psychiatric symptoms, marital dissatisfaction, and assertion discomfort/behaviour were compared for male (n = 26) and female (n = 25) patients with essential hypertension and their spouses, and matched normotensive controls. Correlations and factor analysis revealed clinically meaningful associations between elevated psychiatric symptoms, hostility, and assertive behaviour. These differed for male and female patients, especially regarding assertive behaviour. The findings suggest that communication training might be helpful for a sizeable proportion of married patients with essential hypertension.