Psychological and physiological predictors of lipids in black males

Abstract

The association between lipids and both psychological and physiological measures were examined in this study of healthy black males. The results revealed that certain psychological measures, namely, State and Trait Curiosity and Trait Anger, explained a significant proportion of the variance in high-density lipoproteins (HDL), low-density lipoproteins (LDL), and triglycerides. Although psychological factors accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in lipids (29% for HDL, 25% for LDL, 64% for LDL/HDL, 29% for triglyceride), the amount of explained variance was significantly increased by the inclusion of both psychological and physiological variables in the regression equation. However, neither of the psychological variables explained any of the variance for total cholesterol when physiological variables were included in the regression analysis. The overall pattern of the findings suggests that black males who are at increased risk for elevated lipid levels may be identified by their level of mental vigilance, the frequency at which their anger is experienced, and the presence of other traditional risk factors.