Response to psychologic stress in persons who are potentially hypertensive.

College women who are prehypertensive and matched controls were exposed to emotion-provoking situations, psychologic tests, and psychiatric interviews. Patterns of response differentiating the groups were observed. The prehypertensives were less well controlled, more impulsive, more egocentric, and generally less adaptable in the stressful situations. In the psychiatric interviews, behavior similar to that of patients with hypertension was noted. The findings suggest that prehypertensives are more vulnerable in situations involving psychologic stress, and hence more subject to the autonomic concomitants of emotion, including repetitive rises of blood pressure.