Think you’ve got it tough? Apparently that argument you had with your significant other may also be hurting more than your feelings — it could be hurting your heart too.

Hardening of the coronary arteries is more likely in wives when they and their husbands express hostility during marital disagreements. Hardening of the coronary arteries is more common in husbands when either they or their wives act in a controlling manner. Such hardening of the arteries in the heart can lead to other health problems, including a heart attack.

Those are key findings of a study of 150 healthy, older, married couples – mostly in their 60s – conducted by Professor Tim Smith and other psychologists from the University of Utah. Smith presented the findings on March 3 2006 in Denver during the annual meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society, which deals with the influence of psychological factors on physical health.

“Women who are hostile are more likely to have atherosclerosis [hardening of the coronary arteries], especially if their husbands are hostile too,” Smith says. “The levels of dominance or control in women or their husbands are not related to women’s heart health.”

“In men, the hostility – their own or their wives hostility during the interaction – wasn’t related to atherosclerosis,” he adds. “But their dominance or controlling behavior – or their wives dominance – was related to atherosclerosis in husbands.” Smith summarizes: “A low-quality relationship is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease.”

Read the rest of this article at Eurekalert.

Dr. John Grohol is the CEO and founder of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.

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From Psych Central's World of Psychology:
Your Arguing Style Has Health Effects - World of Psychology (10/2/2007)

    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 2 Oct 2007
    Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.