Acute Experiences of Negative Interpersonal Interactions: Examining the Dynamics of Negative Mood and Ambulatory Blood Pressure Responses Among Black and Hispanic Urban Adults.

Being mistreated by others has been shown to have negative impacts on cardiovascular health, including higher blood pressure (BP) levels. Yet, it is not clear why this mistreatment leads to increased and sustained influences on BP. In this paper, among a sample of Black and Hispanic urban adults, we studied whether changes in negative mood after being treated unfairly, excluded, or harassed explained the reason for higher BP levels. Participants completed reports of how they were treated in recent social interactions, and their levels of negative mood they were feeling at the current moment, every 20 min for 1 day. A BP measurement also occurred at each measurement. We found that negative mood was higher when a person reported being treated unfairly, excluded, and/or harassed, and that the negative mood that followed these negative interpersonal interactions accounted for increases in BP. These results have implications for how mistreatment can lead to chronic illness over time, and provides the potential for providing resources to restore mood and improve BP after mistreatment.