Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, United States.
Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, United States.
Brain Behav Immun. 2022 Feb;100:25-28. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2021.11.002. Epub 2021 Nov 11.
Although positive social relationships are assumed to relate to lower levels of chronic systemic inflammation, the empirical evidence on this association is mixed. This study examines whether perceived social support-giving (i.e., the belief that one can be available to give social support to others, henceforward referred to as perceived support-giving) moderates associations between social relationships and inflammation using data from the longitudinal follow-up of the National Survey of Midlife Development in the U.S. (MIDUS II). Middle-aged adults (N = 1054) completed self-report questionnaires on social integration, perceived support-availability from others, positive relations with others, perceived support-giving, socio-demographic information, and health-related information and provided blood samples for measurement of interleukin-6 (IL-6) as a marker of systemic inflammation. The results showed that perceived support-giving moderated the associations between IL-6 and indicators of positive social relationships, including social integration, perceived support-availability, and positive relations with others. Indicators of positive social relationships were associated with lower IL-6 among individuals higher, but not lower, in perceived support-giving. The moderating effects of perceived support-giving held after adjusting for socio-demographic and health-related covariates. Therefore, positive social relationships are associated with lower IL-6 only for individuals who believe they can give more support in those relationships. In addition, preliminary evidence indicated that the moderating effects of perceived support-giving might be further qualified by gender, being significant only in women.
尽管积极的社会关系被认为与较低水平的慢性系统性炎症有关，但这一关联的实证证据并不一致。本研究使用来自美国中年发展纵向研究（MIDUS II）的随访数据，检验了感知社会支持给予（即，相信自己能够给予他人社会支持，以下简称感知支持给予）是否调节了社会关系与炎症之间的关联。中年成年人（N=1054）完成了关于社会融合、他人感知支持可及性、与他人的积极关系、感知支持给予、社会人口统计学信息以及与健康相关的信息的自我报告问卷，并提供了血液样本以测量白细胞介素-6（IL-6）作为系统性炎症的标志物。结果表明，感知支持给予调节了 IL-6 与积极社会关系指标（包括社会融合、他人感知支持可及性和与他人的积极关系）之间的关联。在感知支持给予较高的个体中，积极的社会关系指标与较低的 IL-6 相关，但在感知支持给予较低的个体中则没有相关性。在调整了社会人口统计学和与健康相关的协变量后，感知支持给予的调节作用仍然存在。因此，只有那些认为自己能够在这些关系中给予更多支持的个体，积极的社会关系才与较低的 IL-6 相关。此外，初步证据表明，感知支持给予的调节作用可能受到性别进一步限制，仅在女性中具有显著性。
