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The present study examined cardiovascular correlates of expression of, and exposure to, naturally occurring behavioral dominance and hostility during dyadic social interaction. Unacquainted men and women undergraduates participated in three mixed-gender interactions with the same partner while their blood pressure and heart rate were assessed. Videotaped records of the interactions were coded for behavioral dominance and hostility. Exposure effects were apparent for women's systolic blood pressure and men's heart rate, with significantly greater reactivity shown by participants whose partners exhibited more dominance or hostility, respectively. Also, women's expression of dominance was positively and significantly associated with their heart rate reactivity. In addition to providing further evidence that emotion-related features of the social environment contribute to cardiovascular reactivity, these results illustrate that dominance merits attention as a correlate of cardiac stress reactivity, independent of hostility.

Associations between trait dominance and cardiovascular reactivity were examined in previously unacquainted healthy men and women. Subjects participated in three mixed-gender dyadic interactions with the same partner while their cardiovascular responses were assessed. Among men, but not women, trait dominance was positively and significantly associated with systolic blood pressure reactivity. For men and women, diastolic blood pressure reactivity was positively and significantly associated with trait dominance while participants prepared to interact and with partner's trait dominance while they interacted. All effects held after controlling for trait hostility. Dominance merits attention as a correlate of cardiovascular reactivity, a finding that parallels emerging patterns in the cardiovascular disease literature. Gender and gender-related social factors as potential moderators of this relationship are discussed.