Institute of Medical Psychology, Center for Psychosocial Medicine, University Hospital, Heidelberg University, Bergheimer Straße 20, 69115, Heidelberg, Germany.
Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
J Neural Transm (Vienna). 2021 Sep;128(9):1381-1395. doi: 10.1007/s00702-021-02359-3. Epub 2021 Jun 28.
While the overall effects of social relationships on stress and health have extensively been described, it remains unclear how the experience of social interactions covaries with the activity of psychobiological stress in everyday life. We hypothesized that the valence as well as quantitative characteristics of social interactions in everyday life would attenuate psychobiological stress. Sixty healthy participants provided data for the analyses. Using an ecological momentary assessment design, participants received 6 prompts on their smartphone for 4 days. At each prompt, they reported on social interactions since the last prompt (any occurrence, frequency, duration, quality, and perceived social support), current subjective stress, and provided one saliva sample for the analyses of cortisol (sCort) and alpha-amylase (sAA). Experiencing any contact within days as well as higher daily levels of contact quality and perceived social support were associated with reduced levels of sCort. Furthermore, on a daily level, experiencing at least one contact in-between prompts more often as well as having more contacts on average attenuated the sAA output. Perceived social support and contact quality as well as higher daily contact durations were associated with lower subjective stress. For sCort, daily levels of stress moderated the effects of experiencing any contact within days while daily perceived social support moderated the effects of subjective stress. For sAA, experiencing at least one contact in-between prompts more often on a daily level moderated the effects of subjective stress. There were no between-person effects throughout all analyses. The results show ecologically valid evidence for direct attenuating effects of social interactions on psychobiological stress as well as for the stress-buffering hypothesis in everyday life. Increasing the quantity and improving the valence of social interactions on an intrapersonal level can possibly reduce psychobiological stress and prevent its consequences.
虽然社会关系对压力和健康的整体影响已经得到了广泛的描述，但目前尚不清楚社交互动的体验如何与日常生活中的心理生物压力的活动相关。我们假设日常生活中社交互动的效价以及定量特征会减轻心理生物压力。60 名健康参与者提供了分析数据。研究人员采用生态瞬间评估设计，参与者在智能手机上收到了 4 天共 6 次的提示。每次提示时，参与者会报告上一次提示以来的社交互动情况（任何发生、频率、持续时间、质量和感知社会支持）、当前的主观压力，并提供一份唾液样本用于分析皮质醇（sCort）和α-淀粉酶（sAA）。在几天内经历任何接触，以及更高的日常接触质量和感知社会支持水平与 sCort 水平降低有关。此外，在日常水平上，更频繁地经历至少一次提示之间的接触以及平均有更多的接触会减弱 sAA 的输出。感知社会支持和接触质量以及更高的日常接触持续时间与较低的主观压力有关。对于 sCort，日常压力水平调节了几天内经历任何接触的影响，而日常感知社会支持调节了主观压力的影响。对于 sAA，在日常水平上更频繁地经历至少一次提示之间的接触会调节主观压力的影响。在所有分析中均未发现个体间效应。研究结果为社交互动对心理生物压力具有直接的减轻作用以及日常生活中的压力缓冲假设提供了具有生态效度的证据。在个体水平上增加社交互动的数量和改善其效价可能会降低心理生物压力并预防其后果。
