Vigilance to a persisting personal threat: Unmasking cardiovascular consequences in adolescents with the Social Competence Interview

Craig K. Ewart, Randall S. Jorgensen, Kerstin E. Schroder, Sonia Suchday, Andrew Sherwood

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Scopus citations

Abstract

We report the first systematic study of hemodynamic responses to the Social Competence Interview, using the original Ewart protocol, which focuses attention on a persisting personal threat. Physiologic changes in 212 African American and Caucasian urban adolescents during the Social Competence Interview, mirror tracing, and reaction time tasks showed that the Social Competence Interview elicits a pronounced vasoconstrictive response pattern, with diminished cardiac activity, that is more typical of alert mental vigilance than of active coping. This pattern was observed in all race and gender subgroups. Results suggest that the Social Competence Interview may be a broadly useful procedure for investigating the role of threat-induced vigilance in cardiovascular and other diseases.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)799-804
Number of pages6
JournalPsychophysiology
Volume41
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2004

Keywords

  • Adolescents
  • Blood pressure
  • Cardiovascular reactivity
  • Cardiovascular risk
  • Social Competence Interview
  • Stress
  • Vigilance

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Neuroscience
  • Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology
  • Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
  • Neurology
  • Endocrine and Autonomic Systems
  • Developmental Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Biological Psychiatry

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