Bleil, Maria Elizabeth
(2006)
NEGATIVE AFFECTIVITY: A MODEL OF UNDERSTANDING PSYCHOSOCIAL RISK FOR IMPAIRMENT IN CARDIAC AUTONOMIC FUNCTION.
Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
The dispositional tendency to experience negative emotions may underlie correlated psychological risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD). Here, we examined the relative contribution of variance shared by depression, anxiety, and anger (i.e. negative affect) and the variance unique to each negative affective disposition in predicting cardiac autonomic function as indexed by heart rate variability (HRV). The sample included 653 community volunteers (51.0% female; 15.8% Black) ages 30-54 (M= 43.8 + 7.1). Latent constructs of depression, anxiety, and anger were each measured by three scales from well-validated self-report questionnaires. Indices of HRV were derived from a 5-minute segment of continuous ECG recording and included high frequency (HF-HRV), low frequency (LF-HRV), and the ratio of LF to HF (LF:HF-HRV) power components. Factor analysis/multiple regression and structural equation modeling analyses were employed with covariate-adjustment for age, sex, race, education, BMI, smoking status, SBP, and DBP. At the single-trait level of analysis, examination of depression, anxiety, and anger individually showed depression to predict reduced HF-HRV and LF-HRV and increased LF:HF-HRV, anxiety to predict reduced HF-HRV and LF-HRV, and anger to be unrelated to any HRV index. However, a more complex pattern of relations emerged when the common (i.e. negative affect) and unique effects of depression, anxiety, and anger on HRV were evaluated simultaneously. First, the relation of depression to HRV indices was partially accounted for by negative affect, though variance unique to depression also predicted HF-HRV independently. Secondly, the relation of anxiety to HRV indices was fully accounted for by negative affect. Thirdly, anger emerged as an independent predictor of increased HF-HRV, suggesting the variance that anger shares with depression and anxiety predicts reduced HF-HRV and the variance that is unique to anger predicts increased HF-HRV. In sum, negative affect explains the common effects of psychosocial risk factors for CHD on cardiac autonomic function with unique aspects of depression and anger related independently to reduced and increased vagal modulation of heart rate, respectively. These findings underscore the importance of examining multiple negative affective dispositions in the same analysis to differentiate the elements of these traits that are specifically cardiotoxic.
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Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
|
| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
| Creators | Email | Pitt Username | ORCID  |
|---|
| Bleil, Maria Elizabeth | bleil@pitt.edu | BLEIL | |
|
| ETD Committee: |
| Title | Member | Email Address | Pitt Username | ORCID |
|---|
| Committee Chair | Manuck, Stephen | manuck@pitt.edu | MANUCK | | | Committee Member | Marsland, Anna | | | | | Committee Member | Jennings, J. Richard | | | | | Committee Member | Matthews, Karen | | | | | Committee Member | Kim, Kevin | | | | | Committee Member | Kamarck, Thomas | | | |
|
| Date: |
20 September 2006 |
| Date Type: |
Completion |
| Defense Date: |
10 May 2006 |
| Approval Date: |
20 September 2006 |
| Submission Date: |
30 July 2006 |
| Access Restriction: |
No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately. |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > Psychology |
| Degree: |
PhD - Doctor of Philosophy |
| Thesis Type: |
Doctoral Dissertation |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
anger; anxiety; cardiac autonomic function; depression; heart rate variability; negative affectivity |
| Other ID: |
http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-07302006-215929/, etd-07302006-215929 |
| Date Deposited: |
10 Nov 2011 19:55 |
| Last Modified: |
15 Nov 2016 13:47 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/8731 |
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