Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Prior research has demonstrated that state depressive symptoms and hostility can modulate inflammatory immune responses and directly contribute to cardiovascular disease (CVD) onset and development. Previous studies have not considered the contribution of dispositional depressive symptoms to the inflammatory process. They have also largely excluded African Americans, despite their disproportionate risk for CVD. The first aim of the study was to examine the impact of state and dispositional depression and hostility on CVD-associated inflammatory biomarkers interleukin-6 (IL-6) and C-reactive protein (CRP) in an African American sample. The second aim was to examine synergistic influences of hostility and state and dispositional …