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Social support, social participation, and cardiovascular reactivity to stress in the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study
Date
2020
Abstract
This study tested two hypotheses of associations between dimensions of social connectedness and cardiovascular reactivity to acute stress: (1) high social support predicts diminished cardiovascular responses to stress (i.e., the stress-buffering model of social support), and (2) diminished cardiovascular responses predict lower social participation, a form of motivated behaviour. Participants (N = 606) in the main Midlife in the United States study completed measures of social support and social participation and underwent psychophysiological stress testing. In unadjusted analyses, social support was positively, rather than inversely, associated with reactivity. Results withstood adjustment for several control variables, but not for depressive symptoms, which was asso ciated with diminished reactivity. Further, diminished reactivity was associated with lower social participation, but not in fully adjusted models. No robust evidence was observed for either the stress-buffering model, or for an association between diminished reactivity and lower social participation. The implications for our understanding of links between social connectedness and cardiovascular reactivity are discussed.
Supervisor
Description
peer-reviewed
Publisher
Elsevier
Citation
Biological Psychology;155, 107921
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Files
Funding code
Funding Information
Foundation Research Network, National Institute on Aging, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
Sustainable Development Goals
External Link
Type
Article
Rights
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/1.0/