Perceptualand Motor Skills, 1992, 74, 847-850. O Perceptual and Motor Skills 1992
RESTING CARDIOVASCULAR ACTIVITY AND ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR IN ESSENTIAL AND REACTIVE ALCOHOLIC MEN ' JOHN T. BRAGGIO, VLADIMIR PISHKIN, OSCAR A. PARSONS, STEVEN M. FISHKIN, AND JOHN R. TASSEY
Veterans Affairs Medical Center University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center Willow View Mental Health System Summary.-This study showed that 10 men identified as Essential alcoholics had significantly lower resting systolic and diastolic blood pressures and significantly higher scores on Latcham's measure of antisocial behavior than 11 Reactive alcoholics. For all alcoholics the antisocial measure was positively correlated with the total score on the Rudie-McGaughran questionnaire. Also, the antisocial measure was negatively correlated with diastolic blood pressure and heart rate. If lower resting cardiovascular activity were a psychophysiological indicator of more antisocial behavior, change on both variables could be associated with initiation and maintenance of alcoholic drinking by Essential alcoholic men.
This study examined whether Essential alcoholic men differed from Reactive alcoholic men (Knight, 1937) in resting cardiovascular activity and on Latcham's measure of antisocial behavior (Latcham, 1985). Male VA alcoholic patients with a DSM-I11 (American Psychiatric Association, 1980) diagnosis of alcohol dependence, continuous, had their resting systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and heart rate recorded for 20 min. while sitting in a comfortable, straight-back chair (Pishkin, Braggio, & Lovallo, 1987). The measures were recorded using a Critikon Dinamap monitor (Model 845) and were printed using a Dinamap Trend Recorder (Model 950). Alcoholics were required to answer questions orally from the Rudie-McGaughran questionnaire (Rudie & McGaughran, 1961) and to complete the Latcham questionnaire. Braggio, Pishkin, Parsons, Fishkin, and Tassey (1991) found that alcoholics who had higher scores on the Rudie-McGaughran questionnaire were more depressed and showed more deficits on the Neuropsychological Impairment Scale. The validity of the Rudie-McGaughran questionnaire was, in part, established by the above Braggio study because with this instrument we were able to identify alcoholics who developed greater negative consequences 'Study sup orted by the Research Service, Department of Veterans Affairs, a minigrant from the ~esearcRCouncil, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, and Oklahoma Health Research Contract 3608. The authors exress their gratitude to Dr. William R. Lovallo, Director, Behavioral Sciences Laboratories, for .ks continued su port of our research program in alcoholism and to Cynthia Sabouri for assistance in typing t i e manuscript. A poster was presented at the 1991 meeting of the Society for Psychophysiological Research, Chicago, IL, October 9-13. Direct correspondence to John T. Braggio, Ph.D., Behavioral Sciences Laboratories (151A), Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 921 N.E. 13th St., Oklahoma City, OK 73104.
848
J. T. BRAGGIO, ETAL.
of their alcoholic drinking. Alcoholic men with scores of 13 or lower on the Rudie-McGaughran questionnaire were identified as Reactive, while those with scores of 25 or higher were classified as Essential as in our cited study. METHODAND RESULTS Of the 41 alcoholic men tested, we identified 10 as Essential and 11 as Reactive alcoholics who had Latcham scores. The comparison of Essential and Reactive alcoholics from this study and controls from another experiment (Braggio, Pishhn, & Lovallo, 1991) are shown here in Table 1. As expected, the former alcoholic group had significantly higher scores on the Rudie-McGaughran questionnaire than the latter alcoholic group. The three groups did not differ in age, and the two alcoholic groups did not differ in chronicity of alcoholic drinking. However, Essential alcoholics had a significantly lower age of onset of alcoholism than Reactive alcoholics. Age of onset was established by subtracting chronicity of alcoholic drinking from chronological age. Essential alcoholic men had significantly lower mean systolic and diastolic blood pressures but not a lower mean heart rate than the Reactive alcoholic group. The Essential alcoholic group had significantly lower systolic and diastolic blood pressures than the controls. The Reactive group had significantly lower diastolic blood pressure than controls. Also, the Reactive alcoholic group had significantly higher heart rates than control subjects. The Essential alcoholic men had a significantly higher mean score on Latcham's measure than the Reactive alcoholic men. TABLE 1 COMPARISON OF MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS FORESSENTIAL (E) A N D REACTIVE (R) ALCOHOLIC,A N D CONTROL (C) GROUPS ON STUDY VARIABLES Essential Reactive Group Alcoholic Group
Variables
Control Group
Alcoholic
t
M
SD
M
SD
M
SD
3.2 8.0 5.3 5.8
10.0 43.7 15.6 28.1
3.1 6.4 8.3 10.2
40.0
6.8
Chronicity (yr.) Age of Onset (yr.) Systolic Blood Pressure (mmHg)
28.8 42.2 21.9 20.3 115.8
4.5
123.9
10.7
125.7
86
Diastolic Blood Pressure (mmHg)
69.6
8.5
76.9
5.8
84.2
8.2
ERa
10.3
RC" RCn
Rudie-McGaughran Total Score Age (yc)
Heart Rate (bpm) Latcham's Measure of Antisocial Behavior Note.-Significance
75.0
13.0
79.6
6.1 3.5 3.7 of t rests: "p < .05, bp < .01, ' p < ,001.
12.1 2.2
ERC ERa
70.0
ER"
E C ~ ECC
ER"
849
RESTING CARDIOVASCULAR ACTIVITY, ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR
Pearson intercorrelations between cardiovascular activity, Latcham's antisocial score, and Rudie-McGaughran total score for all alcoholic men are shown in Table 2. The Rudie-McGaughran score was significantly and negatively correlated with systolic and diastolic blood pressures. The correlation between the Rudie-McGaughran score with Latcham's score was significant and positive. Also, there were significant and negative correlations for Latcham's antisocial behavior score with diastolic blood pressure and heart rate. The last two columns in Table 2 include the means and standard deviations for cardiovascular and Latcham's measures. TABLE 2 PEARSON CORRELATIONS BETWEENRESTING LEVELSOF CARDIOVASCULAR ACTIVITY WITH RUDIE-MCGAUGHRAN TOTALSCOREAND LATCHAM'SMEASURE OF ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR
Cardiovascular and Latcham's Measure
Rudie-McGaughran Total Score
Latcham's Measure
M
SD
.06 -.44n -.44O
120.1 73.4 77.4 4.7
9.1 8.0 12.4 3.2
Systolic Blood Pressure -.44" Diastolic Blood Pressure -.53b Heart Rate -.26 Latcham's Measure .46" Note.--Significance of correlations: ?< .05, bp< . O l .
These results demonstrate that the Essential alcoholic men had lower resting blood pressure values than the Reactive alcoholic and control groups. The Essential alcoholic group had higher Latcham antisocial behavior scores than the Reactive alcoholic men. The more severe alcoholism of the Essential alcoholic group (Braggio, Pishkin, & Lovdo, 1991) was indexed by both lower systolic and diastolic blood pressures and higher antisocial behavior scores than those of the Reactive alcoholic men. Because lower resting blood pressure might be a psychophysiological indicator of antisocial behavior, both variables could be associated in a pivotal manner in initiating and possibly maintaining alcoholic drinking among men classed as Essential alcoholics. Unfortunately, these results do not tell us if the lower resting blood pressures and higher antisocial behavior scores of these Essential alcoholics are a precursor or a consequence of this group's long-term alcoholic drinking. REFERENCES AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION. (1980) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. (3rd ed.) Washington, DC: Author. BRAGGIO, J. T., PISHKIN, V., & LOVWO, W. R. (1991) Psychophysiological activity and neuropsychological test performance in alcoholics. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 47, 823-839.
BRAGGIO, J. T., PISHKIN,V., PARSONS, 0. A,, FISHKIN,S. M., & TASSEY, J. R. (1991) Differences between Essential and Reactive alcoholics on tests of ne~rops~chological functioning and affect. Psychological Reports, 69, 1121-1136. KNIGHT,R. F! (1937) The dynamics and treatment of chronic alcohol addiction. Bulktin o f t h e Menninger Clinic, 1 , 233-250.
850
J. T. BRAGGIO, ET AL.
LATCHAM,R. W. (1985) Familial alcoholism: evidence from 237 alcoholics. British Journal o/ Psychiatry, 147, 5 4 - 5 7 . P I S H ~V.,, BRAGGIO, J. T., & LOVALLO,W.R. (1987) Physiological responses of Type A and Type B men during cognitive performance. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 4 3 , 309-318. RUDE, R. R., & MCGAUGHRAN, L. S. (1961) Differences in develo mental ex erience, defensiveness, and personality organization between two classes o f problem g i n k e n . Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 6 2 , 659-665. Accepted April 13, 1992.
RESTING CARDIOVASCULAR ACTIVITY AND ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR IN ESSENTIAL AND REACTIVE ALCOHOLIC MEN ' JOHN T. BRAGGIO, VLADIMIR PISHKIN, OSCAR A. PARSONS, STEVEN M. FISHKIN, AND JOHN R. TASSEY
Veterans Affairs Medical Center University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center Willow View Mental Health System Summary.-This study showed that 10 men identified as Essential alcoholics had significantly lower resting systolic and diastolic blood pressures and significantly higher scores on Latcham's measure of antisocial behavior than 11 Reactive alcoholics. For all alcoholics the antisocial measure was positively correlated with the total score on the Rudie-McGaughran questionnaire. Also, the antisocial measure was negatively correlated with diastolic blood pressure and heart rate. If lower resting cardiovascular activity were a psychophysiological indicator of more antisocial behavior, change on both variables could be associated with initiation and maintenance of alcoholic drinking by Essential alcoholic men.
This study examined whether Essential alcoholic men differed from Reactive alcoholic men (Knight, 1937) in resting cardiovascular activity and on Latcham's measure of antisocial behavior (Latcham, 1985). Male VA alcoholic patients with a DSM-I11 (American Psychiatric Association, 1980) diagnosis of alcohol dependence, continuous, had their resting systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and heart rate recorded for 20 min. while sitting in a comfortable, straight-back chair (Pishkin, Braggio, & Lovallo, 1987). The measures were recorded using a Critikon Dinamap monitor (Model 845) and were printed using a Dinamap Trend Recorder (Model 950). Alcoholics were required to answer questions orally from the Rudie-McGaughran questionnaire (Rudie & McGaughran, 1961) and to complete the Latcham questionnaire. Braggio, Pishkin, Parsons, Fishkin, and Tassey (1991) found that alcoholics who had higher scores on the Rudie-McGaughran questionnaire were more depressed and showed more deficits on the Neuropsychological Impairment Scale. The validity of the Rudie-McGaughran questionnaire was, in part, established by the above Braggio study because with this instrument we were able to identify alcoholics who developed greater negative consequences 'Study sup orted by the Research Service, Department of Veterans Affairs, a minigrant from the ~esearcRCouncil, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, and Oklahoma Health Research Contract 3608. The authors exress their gratitude to Dr. William R. Lovallo, Director, Behavioral Sciences Laboratories, for .ks continued su port of our research program in alcoholism and to Cynthia Sabouri for assistance in typing t i e manuscript. A poster was presented at the 1991 meeting of the Society for Psychophysiological Research, Chicago, IL, October 9-13. Direct correspondence to John T. Braggio, Ph.D., Behavioral Sciences Laboratories (151A), Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 921 N.E. 13th St., Oklahoma City, OK 73104.
848
J. T. BRAGGIO, ETAL.
of their alcoholic drinking. Alcoholic men with scores of 13 or lower on the Rudie-McGaughran questionnaire were identified as Reactive, while those with scores of 25 or higher were classified as Essential as in our cited study. METHODAND RESULTS Of the 41 alcoholic men tested, we identified 10 as Essential and 11 as Reactive alcoholics who had Latcham scores. The comparison of Essential and Reactive alcoholics from this study and controls from another experiment (Braggio, Pishhn, & Lovallo, 1991) are shown here in Table 1. As expected, the former alcoholic group had significantly higher scores on the Rudie-McGaughran questionnaire than the latter alcoholic group. The three groups did not differ in age, and the two alcoholic groups did not differ in chronicity of alcoholic drinking. However, Essential alcoholics had a significantly lower age of onset of alcoholism than Reactive alcoholics. Age of onset was established by subtracting chronicity of alcoholic drinking from chronological age. Essential alcoholic men had significantly lower mean systolic and diastolic blood pressures but not a lower mean heart rate than the Reactive alcoholic group. The Essential alcoholic group had significantly lower systolic and diastolic blood pressures than the controls. The Reactive group had significantly lower diastolic blood pressure than controls. Also, the Reactive alcoholic group had significantly higher heart rates than control subjects. The Essential alcoholic men had a significantly higher mean score on Latcham's measure than the Reactive alcoholic men. TABLE 1 COMPARISON OF MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS FORESSENTIAL (E) A N D REACTIVE (R) ALCOHOLIC,A N D CONTROL (C) GROUPS ON STUDY VARIABLES Essential Reactive Group Alcoholic Group
Variables
Control Group
Alcoholic
t
M
SD
M
SD
M
SD
3.2 8.0 5.3 5.8
10.0 43.7 15.6 28.1
3.1 6.4 8.3 10.2
40.0
6.8
Chronicity (yr.) Age of Onset (yr.) Systolic Blood Pressure (mmHg)
28.8 42.2 21.9 20.3 115.8
4.5
123.9
10.7
125.7
86
Diastolic Blood Pressure (mmHg)
69.6
8.5
76.9
5.8
84.2
8.2
ERa
10.3
RC" RCn
Rudie-McGaughran Total Score Age (yc)
Heart Rate (bpm) Latcham's Measure of Antisocial Behavior Note.-Significance
75.0
13.0
79.6
6.1 3.5 3.7 of t rests: "p < .05, bp < .01, ' p < ,001.
12.1 2.2
ERC ERa
70.0
ER"
E C ~ ECC
ER"
849
RESTING CARDIOVASCULAR ACTIVITY, ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR
Pearson intercorrelations between cardiovascular activity, Latcham's antisocial score, and Rudie-McGaughran total score for all alcoholic men are shown in Table 2. The Rudie-McGaughran score was significantly and negatively correlated with systolic and diastolic blood pressures. The correlation between the Rudie-McGaughran score with Latcham's score was significant and positive. Also, there were significant and negative correlations for Latcham's antisocial behavior score with diastolic blood pressure and heart rate. The last two columns in Table 2 include the means and standard deviations for cardiovascular and Latcham's measures. TABLE 2 PEARSON CORRELATIONS BETWEENRESTING LEVELSOF CARDIOVASCULAR ACTIVITY WITH RUDIE-MCGAUGHRAN TOTALSCOREAND LATCHAM'SMEASURE OF ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR
Cardiovascular and Latcham's Measure
Rudie-McGaughran Total Score
Latcham's Measure
M
SD
.06 -.44n -.44O
120.1 73.4 77.4 4.7
9.1 8.0 12.4 3.2
Systolic Blood Pressure -.44" Diastolic Blood Pressure -.53b Heart Rate -.26 Latcham's Measure .46" Note.--Significance of correlations: ?< .05, bp< . O l .
These results demonstrate that the Essential alcoholic men had lower resting blood pressure values than the Reactive alcoholic and control groups. The Essential alcoholic group had higher Latcham antisocial behavior scores than the Reactive alcoholic men. The more severe alcoholism of the Essential alcoholic group (Braggio, Pishkin, & Lovdo, 1991) was indexed by both lower systolic and diastolic blood pressures and higher antisocial behavior scores than those of the Reactive alcoholic men. Because lower resting blood pressure might be a psychophysiological indicator of antisocial behavior, both variables could be associated in a pivotal manner in initiating and possibly maintaining alcoholic drinking among men classed as Essential alcoholics. Unfortunately, these results do not tell us if the lower resting blood pressures and higher antisocial behavior scores of these Essential alcoholics are a precursor or a consequence of this group's long-term alcoholic drinking. REFERENCES AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION. (1980) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. (3rd ed.) Washington, DC: Author. BRAGGIO, J. T., PISHKIN, V., & LOVWO, W. R. (1991) Psychophysiological activity and neuropsychological test performance in alcoholics. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 47, 823-839.
BRAGGIO, J. T., PISHKIN,V., PARSONS, 0. A,, FISHKIN,S. M., & TASSEY, J. R. (1991) Differences between Essential and Reactive alcoholics on tests of ne~rops~chological functioning and affect. Psychological Reports, 69, 1121-1136. KNIGHT,R. F! (1937) The dynamics and treatment of chronic alcohol addiction. Bulktin o f t h e Menninger Clinic, 1 , 233-250.
850
J. T. BRAGGIO, ET AL.
LATCHAM,R. W. (1985) Familial alcoholism: evidence from 237 alcoholics. British Journal o/ Psychiatry, 147, 5 4 - 5 7 . P I S H ~V.,, BRAGGIO, J. T., & LOVALLO,W.R. (1987) Physiological responses of Type A and Type B men during cognitive performance. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 4 3 , 309-318. RUDE, R. R., & MCGAUGHRAN, L. S. (1961) Differences in develo mental ex erience, defensiveness, and personality organization between two classes o f problem g i n k e n . Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 6 2 , 659-665. Accepted April 13, 1992.
