Date of Graduation

2007

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MS

Committee Chair

Kevin T. Larkin

Abstract

This study investigated sex differences in cardiovascular response to interpersonal stressors in an attempt to determine whether the match or mismatch between sex of participant and genderorientation of the interpersonal stressor resulted in greater cardiovascular reactivity. Twenty-six men and 31 women engaged in two tasks, a masculine oriented task previously used in investigations of cardiovascular reactivity that involved interpersonal conflict and a feminine task, a newly developed interpersonal task that required comforting of another. Results did not support either the match or the mismatch hypothesis. Instead, women exhibited greater heart rate reactions across both tasks than men. In addition, the Conflict Task was consistently associated with greater physiological and affective reactivity than the Comfort Task for both sexes. Order of task presentation also influenced the magnitude of the cardiovascular and affective responses. Responses were typically greater during the first task, particularly when the first task was the Conflict Task. Usefulness of the Comfort Task and implications for future research examining the match and mismatch hypotheses are discussed.

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