TY - JOUR
T1 - Age moderates the association between social integration and diurnal cortisol measures
AU - Chin, Brian
AU - Murphy, Michael L.M.
AU - Cohen, Sheldon
N1 - Funding Information:
Preparation of this paper was supported by a grant from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health ( AT006694 ); the conduct of the studies was supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health ( MH50429 ), National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute ( HL65111 ; HL65112HL65111 ), and National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases ( R01 AI066367 ); and secondary support was provided by a grant from the National Institutes of Health to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center General Clinical Research Center ( NCRR/GCRC 5M01 RR00056 ) and from the National Institutes of Health to the University of Pittsburgh Clinical and Translational Science Institute ( UL1 RR024153 and UL1 RT000005 ); and supplemental support was provided by John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Socioeconomic Status & Health. We thank David Creswell and Brooke Feeney for their feedback on an earlier version of this manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2018/4
Y1 - 2018/4
N2 - Social integration is defined as the degree to which an individual participates in a broad range of social relationships. Although measures of social integration vary across studies, it is often assessed as the number of social roles (e.g., parent, friend, student, volunteer) that an individual reports actively participating in. More socially integrated individuals tend to be healthier than those less socially integrated, but the biological mechanisms through which this occurs remain unclear. One possibility is that social integration might alter the function of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, of which cortisol is a key product, and in turn influence a broad range of health outcomes. This study examined the association between social integration and two indices of cortisol in a community sample of 680 healthy men and women aged 18–55. Because the social roles held by younger individuals may be more numerous yet superficial than those held by older individuals, this study also tested the hypothesis that these associations could be moderated by age such that lower levels of integration would be associated with cortisol dysregulation for older but not younger individuals in our sample. Participants provided salivary cortisol samples during waking hours on three days that were used to calculate diurnal cortisol levels and slopes. Increased social integration was associated with lower cortisol AUC among older (ages 35–55) but not younger (ages 18–34) individuals in our sample. Moreover, while increased social integration was associated with steeper diurnal cortisol slopes regardless of age, this association was strongest among older individuals. Differences in health behaviors, affect, and psychological stress did not mediate these associations. The results of this study support cortisol as a candidate biological mechanism through which increased social integration is associated with better physical health among older individuals.
AB - Social integration is defined as the degree to which an individual participates in a broad range of social relationships. Although measures of social integration vary across studies, it is often assessed as the number of social roles (e.g., parent, friend, student, volunteer) that an individual reports actively participating in. More socially integrated individuals tend to be healthier than those less socially integrated, but the biological mechanisms through which this occurs remain unclear. One possibility is that social integration might alter the function of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, of which cortisol is a key product, and in turn influence a broad range of health outcomes. This study examined the association between social integration and two indices of cortisol in a community sample of 680 healthy men and women aged 18–55. Because the social roles held by younger individuals may be more numerous yet superficial than those held by older individuals, this study also tested the hypothesis that these associations could be moderated by age such that lower levels of integration would be associated with cortisol dysregulation for older but not younger individuals in our sample. Participants provided salivary cortisol samples during waking hours on three days that were used to calculate diurnal cortisol levels and slopes. Increased social integration was associated with lower cortisol AUC among older (ages 35–55) but not younger (ages 18–34) individuals in our sample. Moreover, while increased social integration was associated with steeper diurnal cortisol slopes regardless of age, this association was strongest among older individuals. Differences in health behaviors, affect, and psychological stress did not mediate these associations. The results of this study support cortisol as a candidate biological mechanism through which increased social integration is associated with better physical health among older individuals.
KW - Age
KW - Diurnal slopes
KW - Salivary cortisol
KW - Social integration
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85042377232&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.02.008
DO - 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.02.008
M3 - Article
C2 - 29477953
AN - SCOPUS:85042377232
SN - 0306-4530
VL - 90
SP - 102
EP - 109
JO - Psychoneuroendocrinology
JF - Psychoneuroendocrinology
ER -