Exaggerated cardiovascular reactivity (CVR) to stress has been implicated in the increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) in individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), yet mixed results have been reported. The CVR research may have been confounded by underrepresentation of women, few studies using sophisticated cardiovascular measurement, and a lack of analyses of PTSD symptom clusters. The purpose of the present study was to examine if young civilian women (M ± SD = 29.89±7.33) with PTSD (n=17) demonstrate greater CVR than women with depression (n=12) or no mental illness controls (n=18), and to explore the relationships between CVR and PTSD symptom clusters. Participants were 56% Caucasian, 21% African American, 19% Hispanic, and 4% other. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP), heart rate (HR), and impedance cardiography derived cardiac output (CO) and total peripheral resistance (TPR) were utilized to examine CVR during speech preparation/delivery and math tasks. Between-group effects were observed during speech preparation - specifically, lower DBP reactivity for the PTSD group compared to the depression group (p