Segerstrom Suzanne C
Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, 115 Kastle Hall, Lexington, KY 40506-0044, USA.
Brain Behav Immun. 2008 Mar;22(3):279-84. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2007.10.011. Epub 2007 Dec 4.
Despite the apparent health benefits of social relationships, some studies indicate that larger social networks can be associated with greater vulnerability to infectious disease, particularly if stressors are also present. Two possibilities for such effects are, first, that more social contacts lead to more negative affect and social conflict during stressors, or second, that maintaining more social contacts is an energetically costly activity, and ecologically motivated immunosuppression is one means of providing energy to maintain social resources. First-year law students (N=76) completed questionnaires and had delayed-type hypersensitivity skin tests at five time points during their first 6 months of law school. Both moving away from home and a smaller social network associated with larger DTH responses (both p<0.05) across all time points. However, negative affect, either broadly defined or as specific affects (hostility, sadness, guilt), did not mediate social network effects, suggesting that negative affect and social conflict are less plausible explanations than ecological immunosuppression. Ecological models would predict that temporary immunosuppression is less harmful to health in the long run than loss of social resources.
尽管社会关系对健康有明显益处，但一些研究表明，更大的社交网络可能与更易感染传染病有关，尤其是在存在压力源的情况下。这种影响有两种可能，一是更多的社交接触会在压力源期间导致更多的负面影响和社会冲突，二是维持更多的社交接触是一项消耗大量精力的活动，而出于生态动机的免疫抑制是为维持社会资源提供能量的一种方式。一年级法律系学生（N = 76）在法学院学习的前6个月中的5个时间点完成了问卷调查并进行了迟发型超敏反应皮肤测试。在所有时间点上，离家以及较小的社交网络都与更大的迟发型超敏反应相关（p均<0.05）。然而，无论是广义定义的负面影响还是特定的影响（敌意、悲伤、内疚），都没有介导社交网络的影响，这表明负面影响和社会冲突作为解释不如生态免疫抑制那么合理。生态模型预测，从长远来看，暂时的免疫抑制对健康的危害要小于社会资源的丧失。
