Trait Hostility Moderates the Relationships Between Work Environments and Ambulatory Blood Pressure and Momentary...

Hostility is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and mortality, but less is known about when hostility poses greatest risk. Work environments can be characterized by features that are reactive for high-hostile individuals. Using a person by environment approach, this article tested whether hostility interacted with work location to predict the cardiovascular disease risk factors of ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) and momentary affect.

Community participants ( n = 108; age, 20-68 years; mean [standard deviation] = 36.52 [11.96] years; 66.06% men; primarily 35.62% non-Hispanic Black, 31.51% non-Hispanic White, and 15.07% Latino/Hispanic) completed a measure of trait hostility followed by two 24-hour ABP monitoring sessions. After each ABP reading, ecological momentary assessment was used to capture participants' current location and ratings of anger, sadness, happiness, and anxiety.

A total of 4321 observations were recorded. Multilevel models tested the relationship between work location, trait hostility, and their interaction on ABP and momentary affect. Participants higher on hostility had higher systolic ABP, diastolic ABP, anger, and sadness (but not happiness or anxiety) when at work compared with when not at work; no differences were observed for those lower on hostility. A more consistent pattern of results was found for the William hostility subscale than a traditional measure.

Results suggest that mechanisms for how trait hostility can lead to cardiovascular disease and mortality and highlight the importance of studying traits like hostility within context. Future research should consider the role of social determinates of health like socioeconomic status and features of the work environment to better understand this relationship.