Job stress, relationship quality, and blood pressure

It has been known for quite awhile that chronic stress often is associated with a rise in blood pressure. Chronic stress at work has been identified as one kind of stress that can have this effect.

Now medical researchers at the University of Toronto have shown that the effects of job stress on blood pressure may be mitigated for those who have cohesive, mutually supportive relationships with their spouses or significant others.

Dr. Sheldon Tobe and his colleagues followed 229 men and women for a year. All had blood pressure that was in the normal range at the outset of the study. All were employed and living with spouses or 'significant others.'

They found that, over the course of a year, people in stressful jobs who had a poor relationship with their spouse or significant other had a rise in their blood pressure. In contrast, blood pressure actually fell for people who had a good marital relationship, even if they also had a stressful job.

The relationship aspect that was evaluated in this study was 'marital cohesion' -- that is, how much couples support each other. Writing about their research results in the February, 2007 issue of the American Journal of Hypertension, Dr. Tobe and his colleagues concluded, "Low marital cohesion exacerbated the effect of job strain to elevate blood pressure, and high marital cohesion ameliorated it."

Ready for the kicker? "This interaction may be gender specific in that it was demonstrated separately in women but not in men."

Source: Tobe, S., Kiss, A., Sainsbury, S., Jessin, M., Geerts, R., & Bajer, B. (2007). The Impact of Job Strain and Marital Cohesion on Ambulatory Blood Pressure During 1 Year: The Double Exposure Study. American Journal of Hypertension, doi:10.1016/j.amjhyper.2006.07.011