(Too) Anxious to help? Social support provider anxiety and cardiovascular function.
Provider factors, such as anxiety, may be important in understanding effects of received social support (SS), which are less consistently positive than those of perceived SS. Due to the dyadic nature of support, anxiety on the part of the provider was predicted to influence the effectiveness of received SS. This laboratory study examined effects of SS provider anxiety within unacquainted dyads on cardiovascular reactivity during acute stress. 148 participants were assigned to support roles, and each dyad was randomized to low or high provider anxiety. Results include that SS provider anxiety resulted in greater blood pressure reactivity and less recovery toward baseline diastolic blood pressure within the dyad. Overall, it appears provider anxiety contributes to less effective SS for recipients and that health costs may accompany providing and receiving support under nonoptimal conditions.
['Kent de Grey|Robert G|RG|', 'Uchino|Bert N|BN|', 'Smith|Timothy W|TW|', 'Baucom|Brian R W|BRW|']
D000328:Adult D001007:Anxiety D001794:Blood Pressure D005260:Female D006801:Humans D007398:Interpersonal Relations D008297:Male D011897:Random Allocation D012944:Social Support D013315:Stress, Psychological D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System
Social support Anxiety Cardiovascular reactivity Health Interpersonal relationships