Social support and cardiovascular responding to laboratory stress: Moderating effects of gender role identification, sex, and type of support

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to examine moderating effects of gender role identification, sex, and type of support on the buffering role of social support on cardiovascular responses. We hypothesized that (a) gender role identification, more than sex, would moderate the effect of social support and (b) to obtain optimal attenuating effects of social support, type of support provided should match type of support preferred in terms of one's gender role identification. That is, feminine participants would benefit more from relatively direct support, whereas masculine participants would benefit more from indirect support. Healthy participants (N = 100) performed a psychological stressor in the presence of a friend, after mental activation of a friend, or alone. Results revealed no moderating effects of gender role identification whether or not in combination with type of support. Nevertheless, results demonstrated an attenuating effect of mental support on heart rate and cardiac output in men. It is concluded that pathways linking social relationships and health may differ between women and men.

Keywords:

• Social support
• internal representations
• cardiovascular responding
• hemodynamic profile
• sex
• gender role identification

Acknowledgements

We thank Wendela van Ark, Nicole Bakker, Marieke Bos, Frank van der Horst, Prisca Nobelen, Marleen Panhuijsen, and Judith Tankink for their assistance in data collection.