Personality, behavior, family environment, family social status and hypertension risk factors in children. The Minneapolis Children's Blood Pressure Study

To assess the relationship of psychosocial variables to risk factors for hypertension in children, we administered instruments designed to measure aspects of children's personality, behavior, family environment and family social status to 1505 school children aged 7-10 years. Children's blood pressure was significantly related only to mother's occupation, the children of unskilled employees having higher blood pressure than children of higher status workers. Children's body mass index was directly related to scores on the conformity scale of the personality inventory and inversely related to scores on the intellectual-cultural orientation scale of the family environment instrument and to social class. Social status but not measured dimensions of children's personality, behavior and family environment may influence the risk of hypertension in children.