Hourly Negative Interpersonal Interactions and Momentary Ambulatory Blood Pressure Among African American Emerging Adults

Prior research established an association between negative interpersonal interactions (NII) and increases in ambulatory blood pressure (ABP). However, the role of moderators in this relationship is underexplored. This study aimed to examine the association between momentary NII and ABP with perceived social support as a moderator. A sample of 54 healthy African American emerging adults completed a baseline survey, 2 days of ABP monitoring, and 2 days of hourly ecological momentary assessment (EMA) in which they reported on various aspects of their social interactions. Mixed modeling controlling for age, sex, relationship status, income, BMI, and ABP momentary covariates revealed that the positive association between NII and ABP was moderated by baseline perceived social support (systolic ABP F(1, 407) = 9.17, p = .003, ƒ2 = .02 and diastolic ABP F(1, 392) = 8.17, p = .004, ƒ2 = .03). NII increased the diastolic ABP of those who reported low perceived social support (b = 0.90, p = .03, ƒ2 = .02). NII significantly decreased the systolic ABP of those who reported high perceived social support (b = -1.47, p = .03, ƒ2 = .02). Unexpectedly, we found NII to be associated with lower systolic BP among those with high perceived social support. Plausible explanations for this finding are outlined. Future research should explore replication of this finding as well as other psychosocial moderators of the relationship between NII and ABP.