(Too) Anxious to help? Social support provider anxiety and cardiovascular function

Provider factors, such as anxiety, may be important in understanding effects of received social support (SS), which are less consistently positive than those of perceived SS. Due to the dyadic nature of support, anxiety on the part of the provider was predicted to influence the effectiveness of received SS. This laboratory study examined effects of SS provider anxiety within unacquainted dyads on cardiovascular reactivity during acute stress. 148 participants were assigned to support roles, and each dyad was randomized to low or high provider anxiety. Results include that SS provider anxiety resulted in greater blood pressure reactivity and less recovery toward baseline diastolic blood pressure within the dyad. Overall, it appears provider anxiety contributes to less effective SS for recipients and that health costs may accompany providing and receiving support under nonoptimal conditions. •Social support from anxious providers may have adverse health effects.•High provider anxiety dyads showed greater blood pressure reactivity.•These dyads showed less physiological recovery following the discussion.•These results suggest health costs for anxious providers and their recipients.