Nonevaluative social support reduces cardiovascular reactivity in young women during acutely stressful performance situations

We tested whether the presence of a stranger reduces cardiovascular responses during stressful tasks if the evaluation potential of the stranger is minimized and whether cardiovascular responses are affected by the quality of support in a friendship. Undergraduate women performed stressful tasks in one of three conditions: Alone, with a same-sex Stranger, or with a same-sex best Friend. The stranger and friend could not hear participants' responses. Alone women had the greatest increases in SBP and HR while women in the Stranger and Friend conditions did not differ in their responses. In the Friend condition, HR responses were smallest in women who were highly satisfied with the support that they generally received from their friend. We conclude that the presence of a nonevaluative friend or stranger can reduce cardiovascular responses and that the quality of supportive ties modulates the impact of those ties on responses to stress.