Hostility, anger-in, and social support: Ambulatory blood pressure and heart rate in female 911 police dispatchers

This study examined the independent and interactive effects of personality characteristics and social support on ambulatory blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) responses to work in 44 female emergency police dispatchers (27 African-American, 8 Caucasian, and 9 Latina). Psychosocial factors measured included hostility, anger-in, defensiveness, desire for control, and social support and interactions with co-workers and supervisors.;Results indicated that hostility, and to a lesser extent anger-in, were associated with heightened systolic blood pressure (SBP) responses to work. High hostile dispatchers exhibited greater SBP reactivity during the highest work load period, while high anger-in dispatchers demonstrated greater SBP reactivity to the 8-hour work shift. Defensiveness both independently and as a moderator of hostility was not predictive of BP during work, and desire for control was inconsistently related to BP.;Results also revealed that co-worker support was associated with significantly lower mean SBP and less SBP reactivity in response to the 8-hour shift, although no results were obtained for supervisor support or the quality of co-worker and supervisor study-day interactions.;A more complex pattern of results was revealed for social support and social interactions as moderators of hostility and anger-in. Among high hostile dispatchers, low supervisor support was associated with significantly greater SBP reactivity to the highest work load period, and less positive co-worker interactions were related to greater DBP reactivity to the highest work load period.;There was suggestive evidence that supervisor support and quality of study-day supervisor interactions moderated the anger-in effect on SBP responses to work. Although none of the post-hoc tests were significant, it was noted that a similar pattern of results emerged, such that high anger-in dispatchers evidenced greater mean SBP and SBP reactivity under conditions of negative supervisor interactions.;Discussion of the results focused on the value of the current study in extending laboratory findings concerning the independent and interactive effects of hostility, anger-in, and social support on ambulatory blood pressure responses to work in an ethnically diverse sample of women. Limitations of the current study were reviewed, with consequent suggestions for future empirical work.