Brown Casey L, Beckes Lane, Allen Joseph P, Coan James A
From the Department of Psychology (Brown), University of California, Berkeley, California; Department of Psychology (Beckes), Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois; and Department of Psychology (Allen, Coan), University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia.
Psychosom Med. 2017 Jul/Aug;79(6):670-673. doi: 10.1097/PSY.0000000000000468.
Social support is associated with better health. This association may be partly mediated through the social regulation of adrenomedullary activity related to poor cardiovascular health and glucocorticoid activity known to inhibit immune functioning. These physiological cascades originate in the hypothalamic areas that are involved in the neural response to threat. The aim of the study investigated whether the down regulation, by social support, of hypothalamic responses to threat is associated with better subjective health.
A diverse community sample of seventy-five individuals, aged 23 to 26 years, were recruited from an ongoing longitudinal study. Participants completed the Short Form Health Survey, a well-validated self-report measure used to assess subjective general health. They were scanned, using functional magnetic resonance imaging, during a threat of shock paradigm involving various levels of social support, which was manipulated using handholding from a close relational partner, a stranger, and an alone condition. We focused on a hypothalamic region of interest derived from an independent sample to examine the association between hypothalamic activity and subjective general health.
Results revealed a significant interaction between handholding condition and self-reported general health (F(2,72) = 3.53, p = .032, partial η = 0.05). Down regulation of the hypothalamic region of interest during partner handholding corresponded with higher self-ratings of general health (ß = -0.31, p = .007).
Higher self-ratings of general health correspond with decreased hypothalamic activity during a task that blends threat with supportive handholding. These results suggest that associations between social support and health are partly mediated through the social regulation of hypothalamic sensitivity to threat.
社会支持与更健康的身体状况相关。这种关联可能部分是通过对与心血管健康不佳相关的肾上腺髓质活动以及已知会抑制免疫功能的糖皮质激素活动的社会调节来介导的。这些生理级联反应起源于下丘脑区域，该区域参与对威胁的神经反应。本研究的目的是调查社会支持对下丘脑对威胁反应的下调是否与更好的主观健康状况相关。
从一项正在进行的纵向研究中招募了75名年龄在23至26岁之间的不同社区样本。参与者完成了简短健康调查问卷，这是一种经过充分验证的自我报告测量方法，用于评估主观总体健康状况。在涉及不同社会支持水平的电击威胁范式期间，他们使用功能磁共振成像进行扫描，社会支持水平通过亲密关系伙伴、陌生人的牵手以及单独状态来进行操控。我们专注于从独立样本中得出的下丘脑感兴趣区域，以检查下丘脑活动与主观总体健康之间的关联。
结果显示牵手条件与自我报告的总体健康之间存在显著交互作用（F(2,72) = 3.53，p = .032，偏η = 0.05）。在与伙伴牵手期间，下丘脑感兴趣区域的下调与更高的总体健康自我评分相对应（β = -0.31，p = .007）。
在将威胁与支持性牵手相结合的任务中，更高的总体健康自我评分与下丘脑活动的降低相对应。这些结果表明，社会支持与健康之间的关联部分是通过对下丘脑对威胁敏感性的社会调节来介导的。
