Hypertension, disclosure of personal concerns, and blood pressure response

Studied the degree of self-disclosure in borderline and hypertensive individuals (N = 50) using a checklist of personal concerns. Shoppers who sought blood pressure measurements in a health display had blood pressure measured before and after the completion of the checklist. Results showed that individuals with elevated blood pressure did not disclose as many personal concerns as normotensives and were less likely to report feeling stressed after the cognitive task even when blood pressure increases had occurred. These findings indicate the need both for further understanding of the nature of self-disclosure and also concurrent investigations of hypertensive characteristics and blood pressure responsivity.